


Feeling Darkness

by Rijkje



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2020-06-24 04:34:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 30
Words: 104,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19716313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rijkje/pseuds/Rijkje
Summary: What does it feel like to be surrounded by nothing?Tragedy struck Violet Adlon one year ago when an unfortunate event caused her to lose her eyesight completely. Now she must overcome the challenges of an entirely new "Troubled Youth" boarding school she was shipped off to by her parents, including new students with all sorts of "interesting" quirks about them.Story created between the collaboration of @Rijk16 (me) and @DemonataTG on Wattpad.





	1. Chapter 1

What does it feel like to be surrounded by nothing?

And I'm not talking about not having friends or not having a place to live. I'm talking about  _ literal  _ nothingness. How would one cope with that? What's it like, knowing that there's so much out there for someone to experience, and having  _ actually  _ experienced those things for the majority of your life, and then have  _ all  _ of that taken away in a split second?

Violet knows. 

Violet Adlon has been blind for a year now. She was always afraid that she'd be alone or forgotten, but now all there is around her is loneliness, literally. Nothing is worse than your worst fear becoming reality, especially if it's an infinite amount of times worse than you could've ever imagined.

What surrounds her isn't just darkness and loneliness, it's  _ complete _ nothingness. There's no black and there's no white, there's just… nothing. How does one person just simply not see anything? How is there just 'nothingness?'

People that still have their eyesight can actually somewhat replicate this experience. For example, force one of your eyes shut and use your other eye to focus on something. What does the closed eye see? Nothing.

When Violet went blind, she first described the experience as 'being lost in a dark cave.' There was darkness, but not nothingness. Now, a year later, she doesn't even see the darkness. She's just stuck inside her own head.

Because of her disability, Violet has many struggles in her life. At first, she had to go to many hospitals, doctors and therapists. But she couldn't. Her parents didn't have insurance and also didn't have to money to afford any treatment. And it's also not like they  _ really  _ cared at all.

Violet's birth had already been an unlucky accident to begin with, which led to her parents, especially her dad, to disregard her and actually treat her as an accident. A piece of trash. A burden on their lives. 

Her dad's neglect is what led to her 'becoming' this way. Right after she became blind, her parents, her dad once again a lot more than her mom, started ignoring her more and more. Her father started drinking even more than he already did, and her mother was breaking under all the stress that was put on her. 

The fact that they'd never lived a luxurious life didn't help either. They lived in an old trailer somewhere in West Virginia. The ghetto was filled with mostly white people who failed in their lives. None of the residents ever graduated, there are pregnant teenagers roaming the streets and kids around eight years old that were already hooked on cigarettes, et cetera. All the people that weren't from the trailer park, avoided it at all costs. There had been plenty of shootings, and that there were plenty of meth labs wasn't exactly a secret, either. Even before she went blind, Violet didn't really have contact with anyone inside the trailer park. While her parents might be extremely trashy, she didn't want to be a part of it. But of course, she was still under eighteen, and was forced to live in those shitty conditions. 

Violet's trailer was one of the more expensive ones, though. It was slightly bigger than the average residence in the park and it had been maintained a lot better than most. It was something that Violet's grandfather used to love doing. Every six months, he'd give the trailer and the pavement in front of it a good power wash and would do a bit of gardening. But he stopped doing that once he passed away, which was around the same time that Violet joined the unseeing.

While Violet likes to imagine that the trailer still looks good and well maintained, she highly doubts that it is. Every night, she can smell her dad smoking nasty-ass cigarettes on the front porch and she hears the clattering of beer bottles being broken against their small pavement. She could also hear her dad curse violently every time he tripped over an item lying on the floor, since the house became completely trashed after her accident. Nobody in the household seemed to give the slightest shit about anything anymore. There was no light and hope in their trailer. Just neglect, hate and abuse. 

But there is one thing that could still cheer Violet up during these tough times. She has a service dog to help her out. While her dad might genuinely despise her, her mother does really care for her, even if she's bad at showing it. She never planned on having a kid and she had no clue how to take care of one. The amount of stress that that put on her makes her a lot worse of a parent than she means to be. But Violet obviously doesn't really know that. At least her mom cares a lot more for her than her father. But to be fair, that's not a high bar to surpass. Anyway, her mom had worked a lot of overtime, and after a few months of doing so she was finally able to buy Violet the service dog. Rosie is her name. 

Rosie goes everywhere with Violet. Even if the blonde has to use the restroom, Rosie is always with her, lying curled up at her feet, and Violet absolutely adores it. If anything happened to Rosie, she wouldn't know how she would cope. It's the only thing that keeps her going during these times. She can't imagine anything, or  _ anyone _ , ever loving and caring for her so much as Rosie does. 

She loves to snuggle up to her dog and pet her all day long. She loves to listen to the dog bark and snore. And as weird as it seems, she loves to smell her dog, simply to have more things to remember her by. Even thought she'd only had Rosie for two months now, it felt like she'd been right by her side throughout her entire life. But just like always, whenever things are starting to look up, all goes wrong. 

Her dad is an absolute  _ nutcase _ . He's obsessed with Italian mafia, especially the code of Omerta, and he became more obsessed with it after the accident. 

**Whoever appeals to the law against a fellow man is either a fool or a coward. Whoever cannot take care of themselves without that law is both.**

Her dad swore that if she  _ ever  _ mentioned to anyone what he'd done or talked back to him, she'd immediately regret it. For nights on end, he'd repeated those two phrases when she was lying in bed. He  _ forced  _ her to listen to it, even if she broke down. 

Her dad is the stereotypical abusive father. He acts tough, but in fact he's afraid. He's afraid that his daughter will rat him out to the police. He knows that if a daughter calls from  _ that  _ trailer park, saying that her dad hit her, they'd immediately believe her. He couldn't let that happen, so he forced her to say that she hit her head when she was 'being incredibly stupid and was playing on the roof of their trailer.'

Violet didn't dare to ever cross his boundaries. He'd made clear what would happen if she did, and it wasn't pleasant, to say the least. 

But around week ago, her dad had one of his signature drunken breakdowns, where he just runs around the trailer and breaks everything in his path. Emma, Violet's mother, doesn't even try to do anything about it anymore, because if she does, she'll be the next thing in his path that he breaks. Literally. 

Violet had had a rough day that day. Not because something particular happened, but because the reality that she was permanently blind started to slowly sink in. And that's fucking rough. 

And not just that, but she never in her life felt loved before. No one was there to help or or take care of her, except for Rosie now. 

Because Violet has basically been neglected by everyone in her life, except sometimes her mother, especially now that she's blind, she tends to break down whenever someone lashes out on her. Most of the time when she's lashed out on, it's because of something that wasn't even her fault, which is something she has bad experiences with. 

Going blind wasn't her fault either, and there was fucking nothing she could've done about it. And that fucking breaks her every damn time. 

Nonetheless, one day she was just done with her dad's bullshit. She fought back. 

<<<

_ "What the fuck did you just say, bitch?" her dad growls as Violet hears him inching closer to her. _

_ "I said, SHUT THE FUCK UP! I'm so fed up with your bullshit!" _

_ "That's good! We were planning on kicking you out of the house anyway. And seeing as you're so 'done with my bullshit', I'm sure you won't mind," her dad immediately retorts. _

_ Violet immediately feels her heart beating in her throat. "W…W-What?"  _

_ "That's what I thought. Not so tough now, are we? But the damage has been done, missy. Me and your mom have been contacting a boarding school for troubled youth. We're fucking tired of you and your fucking blindness. We don't need OR want you here." _

_ Violet froze up. Were her parents really kicking her out of the place she'd called home for her entire life now? While it had never felt like home, her dad informing her of this felt like a stab between the ribs.  _

_ Violet starts shaking her head in despair. "You're lying." _

_ Her dad starts laughing like a maniac.  _

_ "Really, kid? I'd do fucking  _ anything  _ to get rid of you." _

>>>

Violet had gone up to her room and cried. She cried like a baby, and longer than she even thought was humanly possible. Since her other senses strengthened after she went blind, she could feel each and every single tear drop individually rolling down her cheeks. How could a blind person possibly function in a totally new environment, let alone one where  _ troubled youth  _ are the only people she'd have as company?

She was clueless. But at least, she'd have Rosie to help her thought all of this. 

***

Clementine Marsh stands in front of Ericson's after having spent the summer break with her parents. It's still a week until school starts, so it's just her and a few teachers on the school grounds for now. She'd arrived early because she always likes to get settled in for some time before school actually starts, and she likes the peace and quiet that the empty school grounds provide, even though she absolutely despises the school itself. But the other kids weren't actually as bad as you'd think. Yes, they may be labeled as 'troubled youth', but most of the kids ended up here because of a one time mistake. Anyway, the kids were actually really nice for the most part. 

There's her best friend Louis, who she'd immediately bonded with the first day they met. The both of them just have a certain way with words and they immediately clicked because of that. But most importantly, both of them are very dedicated musicians. 

Louis is a funny guy, tall and very outgoing and dramatic in his speech. He's got a dark toned skin and dreads, which Clementine would occasionally cut off in his sleep and put inside his breakfast the next day. 

Louis was never nearly as amused as she was. 

And then there is Sophie. She, together with Louis, is one of Clementine's closest friends. She has straight red hair that's so long that it almost reaches her butt, which looked extremely majestic and beautiful. She'd have it up in a ridiculously large bun most of the time though, she only really let it freely flow whenever school was over and they were sitting in the courtyard. The PE teacher had pushed her so many times to have it cut shorter, but she always refused. She liked her long hair. Furthermore, she has a bunch of freckles that almost cover the entirety of both of her cheeks and she has piercing, glacial blue eyes that sparkled with joy at all times. Except when she was around, or being  _ pushed  _ around, by her twin sister Minerva. 

Minerva is a class A bitch. Clementine would, as she once said, do anything to see someone rip out her tongue, cut off her arm with said tongue, and then beat her to death with that arm. Clementine isn't necessarily known for being very nice, but she doesn't care, because she knows that she's in fact a very nice person. The only reason people think she's an asshole, is because all they only pay attention to her when she's being one. She hates it when people are being dickheads, so she makes sure to shut anyone down that's being one. She never uses physical violence though, she always verbally attacks people. 

For example, one time the teacher refused to change her grade on a test when he'd made a mistake while correcting it. She had walked up to his desk, spit in his coffee, told him that he's as useful as a screen door on a submarine and that she'd dance on his grave whenever he died,  _ even  _ if he was buried at sea. She got a week in detention, but it was  _ definitely  _ worth it. He even changed her grade, so she considered it a win in her book.

As Clementine enters the grounds of her favorite hellhole, she takes a good look around. The school and courtyard still looked the same as they did last year. The walls surrounding the school were covered in graffiti and were slowly starting to fall apart. The vines and ivy on the walls were intertwining themselves with the many holes that had formed over the years. Whether those holes were formed because of the corrosion of the stone, or because Mitch blew them into it, didn't matter; the wildlife would always find its way. Some of the bigger cracks in the walls would sometimes be inhabited by birds to use as a nesting ground. At the end of the breeding season, it wasn't uncommon that there would be small hatchlings joyfully stepping across the yard.

In the center of the courtyard stood a tall, rusted metal pole with an Ericson's flag. It stood atop an old fountain, which was surrounded by wooden benches that had slowly started to mold over the past years. The fountain was completely clear of pennies, seeing as all the money that was throw into it was immediately fished out by other kids. The bench that faces towards the old, worn-down admin building is where Clementine and her friends usually hang out during the breaks and after school, if they weren't in the music room, that is.

Clementine and Louis both play the piano, and they'd take turns entertaining the kids that would come and listen to them perform every Saturday night. While Louis was more of a natural when it came to performing, Clementine had better technical abilities. It created a nice contrast, and the kids that always came to watch never got bored. Whenever Louis was performing an easier piece and pulling a bunch of theatrics and acting all idiosyncratic, the small audience was usually cheering and laughing. But whenever Clementine performed, everyone was dead-silent. Clementine, as far as technique was concerned, was an absolutely prodigy. She could play the most difficult pieces. 

One time while she was in the midst of a difficult piece, a kid started cheering and it distracted her, causing her to miss a few notes. Because she's a perfectionist, she'd snapped at the kid and called him a 'cock-sucking fructose badger.' Nobody had any idea what the fuck that meant, but no one ever said a word anymore during her performances again. 

Clementine now walks across the courtyard and sits down on the bench that she's all too familiar with. Even though she doesn't necessarily like being at the school, it does kind of feel good to be back. She looks at the dormitories to her right. The building was absolutely trashed because of the boys were always breaking shit. Mainly Mitch, though. He'd  _ somehow  _ always find a way to sneak in chemicals to make his own explosives and he'd 'test' them in the rooms of the people that he disliked. Clementine always thought that that was fucking hilarious, but sadly Mr. Ericson didn’t. 

Ever since the third time Mitch had pulled that stunt, the principal had made a bunch of new rules regarding the children's behavior in the dorms. Guess what? No one gave a shit about anything he had to say. People just continued doing what they were doing before, and the school just ended up giving up. Because of that, the second floor of the dorms is now an absolutely shithole, seeing as that's where the boys stay. The girl's floor was still quite neat, especially compared to the one above it.

As Clementine is busy brooding, she amusedly looks at a chair that had somehow made its way on top of the roof. It hadn't been there when she left to go home a few weeks earlier, so someone must've stayed behind and decided it'd be hilarious to put a chair on the roof. 

And that it was.

Just like the school's walls, the dormitories were also completely covered in vines, and in some places, they were growing  _ into  _ the building. Some of the brown, smudgy windows in the main hallway of the second floor had been shattered when Mitch detonated one of his many bombs, and the ivy saw that as a perfect opportunity to find themselves a new, warm home. The boys thought that the vines creeping along the inside walls looked sick as hell, so they never removed them.

Clementine gets off the bench and walks towards the dorm building, planning to place all of her stuff back in her room. While she hadn't taken most of the things that were in there back home, she did take things like her laptop, PS4, and some of her books with her. She walks into her room and she's immediately hit with the familiar smell of said room. When she first arrived here, she'd tried her absolute best to make it feel as homely as possible. She put band posters all over the walls and put a bunch of plants everywhere, just like she had in her room at home.

She also has an electric piano, which she uses to practice on whenever the music room is occupied, or whenever she doesn't want people watching her all the time. But she doesn't just play the piano, she's a guitarist as well. She'd forgotten to take her guitars with her when she went home this break, so she immediately smiles once she spots her Mick Thomson signature guitar, as well as her Fender Telecaster hanging on the wall from wall-mounted stands, that she had been allowed to install after bitching to the school's council about it for days on end. When she had knocked on their door for the sixth day in a row, they finally gave in.

So now she has a room that she's decorated the exact way that she wants it, but the best part of her room was something else. She didn't have to share it with anyone. Because of her probationary report that's filled with countless cases of verbal assault on other students, they let her have her own room.

_ Definitely worth it, hehe. _

At the start of every year, Clementine was always excited for all the new kids that'd be arriving. She always loved to hear the stories of why people got sent to Ericson's. Some stories were absolutely hilarious, while others were really sad. The one she remembers best was that of a kid whose hamster fell into a bowl of water. The hamster was cold and wet, and the girl was scared it'd get sick, so she wanted to warm it back up. She microwaved it.

Apparently her mom wasn't too amused about that. 

Clementine wonders if any interesting students would be joining the school this year… Surely there has to be someone, right?


	2. Chapter 2

It's two days until school begins and most of the students have already arrived, all preparing for the hell that is about to ensue. The courtyard is filled with countless students, all complaining about school and all the homework and essays that were to come during the next year. While Clementine was friends with Mitch, he did have another group of friends other than Clementine's that he liked to spend his time with. Him and his 'bomb squad' were chilling at their usual spot; the biggest hole that Mitch had ever blown into the school wall. It had a radius of about fifteen inches but it didn't quite break through the wall. It was a nice, makeshift table that they used to put their drinks and food on.

Clementine, Sophie and Louis were sitting in their regular spot as well, talking about the things teenagers mostly talk about. Hobbies, love and sex. While Clementine and Louis are always really open about these things, Sophie always gets flustered and turns red whenever anything penis related is mentioned.

Sophie and Clementine are about as straight as a dry noodle, which can make their conversations boring at times. Louis never bought any of Clementine's talk though. His gaydar went absolutely nuts every time he spoke with Clementine about her love life. But to be fair, Louis hasn't quite figured himself out as far as sexuality is concerned, so Clementine always says that 'he's one to talk.' But that never stopped Louis from giving her shit, and that's something that helped their friendship stand strong, if anything. 

"NO! I do not!" Sophie exclaims as she hides her face behind her hands in embarrassment. Louis and Clementine both burst out laughing when they see her ears turning a brighter shade of red than her hair.

"You definitely do!" Louis laughs. "Don't even try to hide it! You should totally go for it, dude. You're a fucking snack, there's no way Mitch doesn't crush on you too."

"And besides that, you and Mitch were practically a match made in heaven," Clementine adds enthusiastically, frantically waving her arms through the air in excitement.

"What do you mean, a match made in heaven?" Sophie asks as she couldn't help but raise her head in curiosity.

"Well, he loves blowing shit up, and I'm sure you'd love blowing  _ him _ ," says Clementine, smirking triumphantly when she sees Sophie hiding her head in her hands once more, which is obviously a mission accomplished. 

"You're insufferable," she murmurs.

"Just don't be a pussy and ask him out!" Clementine immediately retorts playfully.

"I don't even like him!"

"In that case, I'll just go out with him," the brunette shrugs.

"NO! Don't you fucking dare."

"Then ask him out!"

The chatter of the trio was only one of the few dozen conversations going on in the school's courtyard. The weather was really nice out, so everyone was outside spending quality time with each other. The temperature was around 85 degrees, and the sun was burning onto everyone's skin. Clementine and Louis never really got sunburned, but they still put on sunscreen because skin cancer is something they'd really rather avoid. Sophie always got a sunburn, even if she put on sunscreen every thirty minutes. She was super jealous of her two friends that just didn't have this problem. 

Clementine's dialogue with her friends is interrupted when she hears the massive door leading into the admin building open, and she turns her attention towards it. Someone that's all too familiar to the brunette comes walking out. Tall, red hair, venomous eyes and a snarky grin on her face. Minerva.

The brunette instantaneously feels her blood start boiling. She can't stand this girl. Simply seeing her face makes her want to grab a spoonful of honey and let it slowly seep into the girl's asscrack. But sadly, the school's rules forbid this. 

_ Fucking pussies.  _

As soon as Minerva spots Clementine, she comes gracefully waltzing towards her, Sophie and Louis. The closer she gets, the more apparent Clementine's anger becomes to her. It doesn't scare her away though, it just motivates her to be even more annoying. 

"Hey, babe!" Minerva exclaims as she gets within earshot of Clementine, who balls up her fists in response. She tries to calm herself down by squeezing down on her leg with immense force, but she can feel herself becoming more pissed off by the second. 

Clementine sends a death glare her way. "Fuck off. Now."

"Such hard feelings, Clementine. What's all of that for?" Minerva inquires as she fake pouts. 

"Dude, back off. Seriously," Louis exclaims as he rises up from the bench. Minerva may be tall, but Louis still towers a few inches above her. 

"Okay, fine," the red-haired girl says as she raises her hands in defeat. After that, she walks off towards the other side of the courtyard where her and her bitchy minions reside. 

"...That was random," Sophie sighs as she watches her sister walk off into the distance. Her two companions just nod in response, not really wanting to give the entire thing any more attention. 

Clementine watches Minerva as she walks off, and she hates to admit it, but damn, is Minerva a sexy fucking beast. That's the only way to put it. She's tall, intimidating, got one hell of a haircut, she's got perfect curves that complement her other body shapes perfectly and she can stand her ground. One thing isn't quite as attractive though, which is the fact her personality is the physical representation of a freshly shaven baboon. 

In the corner of her eye, Clementine can see someone else approaching. It's Mitch, who looked to have finally come to say hello to them after arriving earlier this afternoon. Clementine didn't mind that he spent his first few hours with a group of people that he was closer with at all, in fact, it made sense to her that he did. 

"Wassup fuckers?" Mitch exclaims as he sits down on the bench, next to Clementine. 

"Not much, just talking about Sophie and her love life," Clementine says as she lightly elbows Sophie's side, who just sends a glare her way. 

"Really now? Did any fresh meat arrive that she's interested in?" Mitch asks, perhaps a  _ little bit  _ too casually. 

Clementine grins at him. "Oh, they're definitely fresh meat. But they're not new."

"Clem, shut the hell up. I swear to God," Sophie grumbled. 

Mitch turns his attention towards Sophie and sends a light smile her way. "Why don't you ask them out? How could they say no to a pretty face like that?"

Sophie freezes up in an instant. 

"Sophie.exe has stopped working," Louis comments in a robotic voice, trying to maintain his composure while Sophie seems to be trying to come up with something sensible to say. 

"I-uh, I mean what? Yeah, I mean, no. Sure. Wait what," she utters. 

"Damn, and I thought I was a hot mess," Louis laughs. 

"Anyway, that's not why I came over here," Mitch starts. He turns his attention to Clementine. "Clem, I know that you usually just go on runs and work out in the gym, but I heard from a reliable source that you're somewhat decent at soccer as well. You should try out for the team this year so we can kick some fucking ass together."

Clementine thinks about it for a few seconds. Yes, she does kind of like soccer, but she's completely satisfied with her current schedule and doesn't see a reason to change it; she's already really busy as is. Squeezing soccer practice in between school, homework, working out, going on runs and doing practice routines for both piano  _ and  _ guitar would be quite something. She starts grinning uncontrollably when she decides her answer. 

"Okay, I'll do it. On one condition," Clementine says, sending a pleased grin in Sophie's direction. 

"What is it?" Mitch asks curiously. 

The brunette looks at Mitch, then at Sophie, and then back at Mitch. "Sophie has to join the team as well."

"What! No!" Sophie shrieks without missing a beat. 

Clementine smirks at her bemused friend. "Come on! You were pretty good when we played that one time! Not just that, but you'd look like a  _ fucking snack  _ in that soccer uniform."

"You sure that you're not into girls, Clem?" Louis questions jokingly as he pokes her side with his index finger. 

"What? Of course not, I'm straight!" Clementine immediately defends. 

"Yeah, yeah. And so is spaghetti until it gets wet."

"You should totally join the team, Soph," Mitch says, ignoring the bickering going on between Louis and Clementine. "I'm sure you'd make it!"

The two that were previously quarreling instantly zipped their lips to listen in on this conversation. Clementine couldn't help but beam whenever Sophie immediately looked encouraged and happy when Mitch spoke to her. It's something she really wishes she'll feel someday, for anyone really. She's had one experience with a relationship and that was… interesting, to say the least. It definitely didn't feel special in the slightest way. In fact, it was the exact opposite. After that, she swore that she never wanted a relationship again, but seeing Sophie happy like this really made her want to feel like that as well. Perhaps her promise to herself has to be broken at one point.

_ I'm gonna do everything I can to get these two together… They really like and deserve each other. And maybe I can find someone for myself after that. Hopefully.  _

"Really? You think I'd be good enough?" Sophie timidly asks, and Mitch just chuckles in return. 

"Seriously? If Clementine says you're decent, that means you're better than all those fuckin' noobs we've got on our team. It takes a lot for Clementine to call someone decent, she's a damn perfectionist."

"I don't think I'm that good at all," Sophie starts, but Clementine instantly sends a death glare her way. 

"But I guess I could always try…" the red-head murmurs out at the end of her sentence. 

Clementine’s face broke into a wide grin at Sophie’s words. "That’s the spirit, Soph!"

"Cool, try-outs are in two weeks, on Saturday. So I suppose two weeks exactly, now that I think about it," Mitch says casually, but he's failing miserably at hiding his obvious excitement. 

_ He's definitely head over heels for Sophie…  _

"Aw, look at that guys! Mitch used his brain for once!" Clem quips. 

"Brain? I didn't know he even had one," Louis adds, pretending to be in deep thought.

"Louis, the only thing you use your brain for is memorizing Chopin préludes, so you're one to talk," Mitch retorts.

Louis immediately starts cheering. "Damn! He actually knows how to use the word prélude correctly!" 

"Yeah, that's because you won't shut the hell up about them, dumbass!"

"Guys, shut up. I've already got a headache and you all are just making it worse," Clementine grumbles, gently rubbing her temples. "I'm going on a run to relieve some of the stress."

Clementine rises up from the bench and swiftly makes her way over to her dorm room, where she proceeds to grab her sports clothing. After she puts them on, she grabs her sports canteen and fills it with water, her favorite drink. Nobody really understands why she loves water so much, everyone else basically only drinks soft drinks or beer. But she actually really likes the taste of water, and it's good for her body for which she works hard to maintain, which is another good reason for her to drink it. 

After making sure that she's got everything she needs, she makes her out of the school through the back exit and runs around to the front of the school. When she passes the gates, she yells at Sophie and Louis and she waves at them, which they return with a smile. 

She takes in a deep breath of fresh air that fills the forest and starts running into the woods that surround the school. The forest is oak-brown, quite primitive and boring. Not a lot of wildlife lived around these parts anymore, seeing as there were some troubled kids that used to always hunt or chase them. As a result, most of the animals avoid the school now, much to Clementine's dismay. She'd always loved seeing squirrels, deer and other animals during her runs. 

When she finally gets off the uneven ground that the path starts with, she makes her way onto a gravel path that the school had made. The small weeds and leaves that she steps on as she runs cracked underneath her feet, creating one of the sounds that she enjoyed most in her life. It reminds her of peace and quiet. 

As she progresses further along the path, she gets onto the part of the small road that's parallel to a river. She watches as the sunlight reflects on the streaming water, creating a beautiful glitter. Above the water's surface fly a few fireflies, making her calm down smile lightly as they remind her of home. Not just that, but the sound of the burbling water puts her at ease as well. She sees a small shack appearing in the distance. 

The shack used to be a fishing shack, but at some point people started using it as a place to hang out and completely trashed it after a night of heavy drinking. The school never bothered to repair the place, so now it's just a small building run down with vines, weeds and other forms of wildlife. Some people still hang out there occasionally, but the hole that was blown in the ceiling (Mitch's courtesy) is what held kids back from hanging out there for prolonged periods of time. Because rain was always able to make its way inside the shack, some of the wood and furniture had started rotting, which led to both an unpleasant sight  _ and  _ smell. 

As Clementine starts nearing the fishing shack, she comes to a stop at the small wooden bridge that allows the students to cross the stream safely. She sits down and dangles her feet a few inches above the water. Taking the time to quietly reflect as she listens to the few birds chirping overhead. Everything was perfect in her mind, that was until her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the sound of screeching tires back from where she came from.

She looks over her shoulder to see what the source of sound was, but she doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Her curiosity getting the best of her, as she hops back up to her feet and begins to walk towards the direction where the sound came from. As she makes her trek back, she realizes that she's practically heading back to the school, meaning that the tires probably belonged to a vehicle that dropped off a new student. This only sparks her interest even more, and she starts running back. 

Arriving at the school gates, the brunette realizes her assumptions were correct when she spots a taxi. The driver was already getting back into his vehicle after presumably opening the door for his passenger and having watched them go inside. Clementine walks through the gates and spots an unknown, blonde girl with a dog walking towards the admin building. Ms. Martin is holding onto her shoulder, which Clementine shrugs off as a friendly gesture. She notices that the girl has a faint, purple hue to her hair, as if it had been dyed before but the girl had stopped doing so. 

The brunette is kind of intrigued by the appearance of the blonde, but she decided not to disturb her process of her getting settled in. 

_ Not like we'd really got along anyway… I'll probably scare her off before she's said a single word to me.  _

As she traverses the courtyard, she observes that neither Mitch, Louis or Sophie are outside anymore. She assumes they're all getting ready for dinner, which commences in around fifteen minutes. 

The brunette jogs the last few metres towards the dormitories and rushes towards her room to get her showering supplies because she wants to wash off before she goes to join everyone at dinner. The last thing she wants is to be all gross and sweaty around the people she's looking to impress. She changes into a light grey tank top and joggers, and checks herself out in the mirror to make sure that's she looks somewhat presentable. 

_ I guess this'll do… _

And with that, Clementine leaves her room and starts making her way towards the cafeteria, making sure to place her signature baseball cap on her head. 


	3. Chapter 3

Dinner was about as interesting as you figured it'd be. Clementine mostly just enjoyed her meal in peace while occasionally chatting with Louis and Sophie about the piano performance that she and Louis would be having later that night. It wasn't an official event held by the school, but they did heavily encourage Clementine and Louis to keep doing and they also pushed kids to go and watch. She'd briefly talked to Louis about their 'setlist' and in what order they'd be playing their new pieces. Clementine had mastered one of the most difficult pieces she'd ever attempted during the summer break, the first movement of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2, so that's what she's going to play. Louis was planning on playing pieces that literally anyone could recognize within the first second. He'd be playing Rondo alla Turca by Mozart and The Entertainer by Joplin, which aren't really too difficult, but they weren't exactly easy either. 

Their performances always commence at nine in the evening and it is currently half past eight. Clementine is already making her way towards the piano room to get her fingers warmed up; she wasn't about to mess up because he hands were stiff. She'd worked too long on perfecting this piece that she'd let that go to waste because she was too lazy to warm up. 

As she walks up the cracked steps of the admin building and goes inside, she hears some talking by a voice that she doesn't recognize. It's a female voice and quite mature sounding, but very timid as well. Perhaps a new teacher? She shrugs it off and walks towards the piano room, where the grand piano of the brand 'Blackraven' resides. When Clementine first saw it, she had really doubted the quality of the piano because she'd never heard of the brand, but it turned out the thing is actually a really good piano, somehow. At least it stayed in tune for prolonged periods of time, which was never the case with the pianos in some of the other schools and public places that she'd been. 

She approaches the piano that has become her trusty companion over these last few years and sits down on the well-worn leather piano stool. She cracks her knuckles and starts playing a piece that really gets the fingers going; Ballade No 1. in G minor by Chopin. 

Clementine has played this piece so many times now, that her brain basically enters an autopilot mode whenever she performs it. She gets lost in thought and starts making a mental list of all the things that she would face during this year at school. She watches her hands as they swiftly glide over the keys with ivory tops and gets completely engrossed in her playing, so much so that she doesn't notice that someone was leaning against the doorframe, listening to her play. 

***

"So, Ms. Adlon. I have to admit that we've never had a person that's completely blind at our school before, so this is completely new to me as well. Having said that, you're obviously going to need someone to help you move around, right?" a female voice asks as Violet nervously fidgets her fingers. 

She really isn't looking forward to any of this. She doesn't want to be in a new school. She doesn't want to meet new people. But she also doesn't know what she does want. Sitting at home all day would be a fucking misery to her as well. The last thing she wants is to get picked on by other kids, because that's what happened at her last school after the accident. But maybe the kids in this new place would be more open-minded and accepting, because they might understand that she's going through rough times. 

"I mean, I guess. But I get used to new environments quite easily, as much as I don't like doing so… And besides, I've got Rosie and this stupid fuckin' cane," the blonde mutters as she clenches her fists. 

She really hates her cane, because she thinks it makes her look stupid and vulnerable. It literally screams, "Hey, look at me! Watch me be blind!" and she absolutely despises that. 

"Language, Ms. Adlon."

"Right, sorry," Violet mumbles under her breath. 

As she apologizes, she hears a faint melody from a piano coming from somewhere. She guesses it's one floor below her, and then somewhere to the left from where's she's sitting now. 

"It's quite beautiful, isn't it?" Ms. Martin comments as she sees the shift in Violet's facial expression. The blonde had gone from uneasy and timid to being in complete awe of what she was hearing. "We've got some people at our school that are remarkable musicians. You'll get to enjoy their playing almost every day from now on, seeing as they usually practice a lot. There's two students that stand out the most though, but I'm sure you'll meet them in due time. Anyway, you'll be sharing a room with Brody Thomas. She's a nice girl but she's really quiet most of the time. I'm sure you two will get along just fine."

A short silence follows, in which Violet can hear the shifting of a chair and the jingling of keys. After that, it remains silent for a few seconds. 

"Ms. Adlon?"

Violet faces her head towards the direction of Ms. Martin's voice. "What?"

"Your keys," she says in a somewhat bothered voice. "Oh, wait! Shit! Eh… pardon my French. I'm sorry, I forgot you couldn't see me holding them out. Can you hold out your hands? I'll place your keys into them."

Violet grimaces at Ms. Martin’s hastened apology as she extends her arm out and feels the cool, metallic shape of a keyring. Thanking the older woman as she stuffs the keys into her pants pocket.

"Well, I think that just about covers the gist of everything, Ms. Adlon. Did you have any other questions or concerns that need to be brought to my attention before you go?" Ms. Martin starts, judging by her tone almost expecting to be asked an array of meaningless questions. Violet thought about asking her when she can leave this shithole, but thought better of it, not wanting to land in any hot water before her first official day of school. So instead, Violet decides to just shake her head and say her goodbyes. Beckoning Rosie to her side as she opens the door and makes her way to her dorm and her new 'bestie', whoever the hell that is.

While Violet follows the mental map in her head towards the staircase, her ears begin to perk up when she discovers that the faint piano music she heard earlier was gradually getting louder the further down she went. Almost as if her legs had a mind of their own, Violet took an unforeseen detour and makes her way towards the alluring music. Stopping in front of an open doorway, she realizes from the vibrations on her cane that the mysterious music was inside the room in front of her. Leaning on the doorframe, Violet lets the music sweep over her body like a cool breeze on a warm summer's day. Taking in every note, from the lowest of tones to the highest of peaks no matter how quick the key was struck. When listening, she wonders who this very talented musician was. Maybe it was the music teacher playing in their free time while no students were around, and if so, how did they ever learn to perform a piece of music that complicated? The complex changings of the melody and the quick progressions were almost flawlessly done, the very thought blowing her mind. 

All of a sudden, the music fades to nothing. Violet frowns as she starts to wonder if the person was changing to another song or simply stepped into another part of the room. 

"Hey blondie, staring at me like that isn’t going to give you the power to magically see through my damn clothes, you know!" a female voice growls.

Wait, what?

Violet quickly straightens up when she realizes the annoyed tone came from inside the room she was looking into. She scratches her neck in embarrassment and mumbles an almost inaudible apology as she quickly makes her escape towards the dorms. Hearing Rosie panting by her side, Violet was mentally kicking herself the entire time she was navigating the hallways. It’s not like she meant to 'stare' at the girl, she just got lost in the music that was radiating from the room. Violet shakes her head, trying to ignore the sinking feeling that she had already made an enemy due to her blindness yet again. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted when a new voice calls out to her.

"Hey, there! You must be my new roommate, right? I’m Brody." 

Violet pauses as she steps closer to Brody, noting she was close enough when she accidentally bumps her cane against the other girl’s ankle. 

"Um, yeah, hi. I’m Violet. Nice to meet you," she says while shaking Brody’s soft hand. Violet thought she seemed nice enough from her first impression, it made her wonder what sent her to a 'Troubled Youth' school in the first place. In retrospect, Violet thought that it was best not to ask such an invading question this early into meeting someone she was supposed to room with.

"Likewise, Violet! Let me show you around." Violet heard Brody open the door to her right and take her arm as they stepped inside. "Well, it isn’t much but it gives us a place of privacy. We have two double beds, a desk to do homework on, and a very large dresser so you can fit all your stuff in it. I’ll just take the closet so you don’t have to walk around as much. The last thing I want is for you to get hurt while trying to get ready in the mornings," she continued to explain in a protective manner. Her tone was really soothing, but Violet could begin to detect something else creeping in Brody’s voice, almost as if she was faking something. Violet furrows her brow in thought, which caught the attention of her new friend.

"Hey, is everything alright? Are you hurt or need anything? I didn’t make you uncomfortable did I, because if I did, I am so so--" Violet changes her expression instantly once she heard how worried Brody became in a matter of seconds, feeling bad that she made the other girl worry so much. 

"No, don’t be sorry! It’s my fault, I just… kinda space out a lot when I start thinking," Violet chuckles softly, hearing a sigh of relief in front of her and the squeaking of bed springs. Hearing this noise, she discerns that her bed is across from Brody’s and sits down as well. 

Violet hears Brody lightly drumming her fingers on something as she considers what to say next. Noticing her hesitation and general awkwardness, Violet speaks first. "So, what’s it like around here? I got the generic rundown from Ms. Martin but I’m pretty sure it was just the same crap she tells every new kid."

"Well, it’s your typical school for troubled youth, I'd say. We have your standard classes and sports, your traditional cliques like the jocks and nerds, and all bundled up with a colorful array of students that can either cry on command or blow something up if you look at them wrong," Brody explains cheerily as Violet’s eyes widen in confusion and disbelief. 

"People really blow shit up here?" 

"Well, only a certain person has an explosion fetish, but he makes sure not to do it whenever there’s a chance someone could get hurt. Well… kind of, anyway. He really is a nice guy at heart though, so he obviously has some form of standards," Brody finishes with a laugh. 

Violet racks her brain trying to memorize all of this new and potentially life-threatening information. Overcome with curiosity, Violet asks a question she’s had on her mind for a while. "Colorful array of students? Is everyone here for the same troubles or something?"

"Not exactly, no. We’re basically in the ‘Land of Misfit Toys.' Each person is unique in their own way. For example, Mitch is our adrenaline junkie, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but he gets his rushes from detonating bombs around the school. So yeah, that. He's that guy I mentioned earlier. A couple of my other friends have their own issues, like Sophie who is really easy to manipulate, like, really easy. And then there's Louis, who is just too happy for his own good." 

Violet raises an eyebrow at that last part. "You can be sent here for being too happy?" 

That didn’t make much sense to Violet, unless being sent here was supposed to act like some sort of soul-sucking punishment.

Actually, that wouldn’t surprise her in the least.

"Well no, but that’s the reason Louis always gives to people when they try to ask him. Honestly, not a lot of people know about his past, and he’s very adamant about keeping that part of himself closed off," Brody further explains, almost sounding distraught about how much of a barrier her friend has put up around himself. Violet nods, understanding the feeling all too well from her previous experiences in school. People coming up and asking her all sorts of annoying questions about being blind and how it happened. 

“I get that. Are you just friends with a bunch of guys? 'Cause so far this place seems a little too ‘bro-town’ for my liking,” Violet continues to question, hoping she wasn’t taking advantage of Brody’s kindness by talking her ear off.

"Nah. There's Sophie, the girl I mentioned before. She's really nice, but her sister's a bit of an ass. And then there's Ruby. She's nice too, but she's kind of snappy and gets pissed over the smallest things. Like, you could kill her cat and she'd be a little upset, but if you accidentally touch her pencil case, she'll flip out on you."

"Interesting..." Violet snickers with a small snort. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't intrigued by some of the personalities that were described to her, especially Mitch's. He seemed like the type of guy she'd hang out with. Before her accident at least. 

Violet hears Brody adjust herself on her bed. "Yeah, I guess it is. Most people really aren't bad though. I know it's a school for troubled kids, but most people were sent here when they were young and have all grown out of it. Except Mitch, he's still blowing things up and it doesn't look like he's planning on stopping anytime soon."

She pauses for a second and lets out a long sigh. "And there used to be a girl named Phoebe. People don't usually get out good behaviour, but she was such an angel that she was sent home after only four months. She was really friendly and always went out of her way to support people. I really miss her, she was so nice. Lives all the way up in Oregon as well, so it's not like I can go visit her."

The conversation comes to a quick standstill after Brody’s last statement. Violet begins to wonder if she was messing everything up already as the seconds continue to tick by without a word being spoken between her and her new roommate. Not that it really bothers her though; it's not like she expected the conversation to last this long in the first place.

After a few more minutes without any dialogue pass, Violet hears that Brody's breathing has started to slow down, which signified that she had fallen asleep. The blonde has no clue what time it is, but she takes Brody's drowsiness as a cue to lie down on her back as well. She doesn't bother changing or brushing her teeth as a sudden exhaustion hits her like a truck. 

As she lies down she starts thinking about this new chapter in her life that started today. She hopes that things will be better here. While she'd always wished that she could leave the trailer she'd called home for her entire life, actually being somewhere else what a lot more frightening and intimidating than she'd anticipated. But primarily, she hopes that she hadn't made that girl or woman in the piano room her enemy. The girl had talked to her in a pretty bitter tone after all.

Those were her last few thoughts before falling into a deep slumber, temporarily forgetting about all the points on concern that bubbled in her head. 


	4. Chapter 4

Clementine wakes up on Monday morning and is immediately hit with an immense feeling of regret about last night when a rush of tiredness hit her. She'd stayed up super late to do practice routines for her guitar playing because she hadn't played in so long. 

So, it's a Monday morning, the first day of school, and Clementine's head feels like it's been hit by Kanye West's ego. She groans as she drags herself out of bed towards her guitars. Tired or not, she still has to do her scheduled guitar practice even if she'd stayed up hours doing the exact same thing the previous night. She starts running up and down the modes of the minor scale, occasionally switching it to harmonic minor. After fifteen minutes of doing this, she hangs her guitar back on the wall and saunters towards her desk. Letting out a grunt of annoyance because of her sleep deprivation, she grabs a small can of fish food. She carefully screws loose the lid and grabs some of diversely colored flakes, dropping a few of them into the bowl. She watches them as they slowly drift along the small shockwaves created in the water, almost in a majestic manner. 

"There ya go, Peanut. Eat away," she says, smiling as the goldfish starts snacking away its meal. 

It's the simple things in life that bring someone the most joy… I love my goldfish, and I don't care if anyone judges me for it. 

Clementine quickly changes from her pyjamas to her sports outfit, and goes on her morning run. It's something she does everyday to get some endorphins flowing through her body, as it really wakes her up better than anything else. Pair that with her morning coffee, and she's good to go for a long time. 

She runs her usual route, which consists of her doing two laps around the soccer field, then towards the fishing shack, then back to the soccer field and doing five more laps, and then back to the dorm entrance. Her friends say that she's ridiculous for running so much, especially this early in the morning, but she doesn't care. She walks into her room and opens the bottom drawer of her dresser and pulls out her bag with showering supplies. 

Walking towards the showers, she doesn't run into anybody. Then again, she's probably the only person who's going for a shower at 7:15 in the morning when school doesn't start until 9:30. Clementine has always been an early bird, which is something that she didn't share with any of the other kids. There are always kids late to the first class of the day because they slept through their alarm, or because they simply don't care and just decided to sleep in. 

Now feeling more awake after her run, she decides she wants to take a quick, cold shower rather than a long one, to make sure her energy doesn't go to waste. She enters the bathroom and swiftly scans the inside of it. It hadn't changed a single bit since she last saw it. On the right side wall were sinks and mirrors while the showers were on the left. On the back wall were a bunch of posters regarding school events, and there was also a tampon dispenser. And of course, the walls were covered in a bunch of profanities and a shitload of disturbingly detailed penises. 

She chuckles lightly at the drawings. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't the one who drew them. 

The brunette moves the shower curtain out of the way and steps inside the small cabin. She removes her sports clothes and starts the shower. The sudden cold makes her shiver, but it's a pleasant shiver. She looks at the shower curtain that had small drops of water plummeting down at its hem. It bothers her how the only thing separating her and her naked body from the outside world is some dumb piece of fabric, instead of a door with a lock. It has happened before that other girls mindlessly walk into the stall that she was using, which usually resulted in them getting a bunch of obscenities yelled their way. 

As she's drying herself off, she notices that she left her clothes in her room. She curses loudly at the realization, because she'd washed her sports clothes in the shower as well, meaning they were soaking wet. It's something she always does so she doesn't have to waste her time washing them later when she could just do it right then and there. 

Still mumbling swears under her breath, she grabs her towel and wraps it around her body. After she made sure that it was secured tightly and not just about to fall off, she slides the shower curtain to the side and steps outside. Staying completely still, she listens if she hears anyone walking in the hallway. After a few seconds of complete silence, she creaks open the door at a moderate speed. When she spots no one, she gradually slips her body through the door opening and starts hurrying down the hall, but making sure not to move so quickly that her towel would drop. 

As she rounds the first corner, she's startled by someone staring at her. It's the same girl from the piano room from two days back. 

Jesus Christ, she's staring again. She must be fucking obsessed with me or something. 

"Staring at me again, huh? Must be nice now that I'm wearing a towel. I'd suggest you stop and look somewhere else," Clementine threatens as she huffs.

The girl's head snaps down and her faze immediately drops, causing her hair that hangs on her shoulders to swiftly move with. Clementine couldn't deny that her hair was majestically beautiful, especially due to the slight purple hue in it that she'd noticed earlier. 

"I'm sorry," the blonde mutters, awkwardly shuffling her feet. "I wasn't staring. I'm bl--"

"I don't care, just don't do it again," Clementine cuts her off, now swiftly making her way towards her room again. 

What the hell is her problem?

She hears the blonde let out a long sigh as she opens her room door. But it wasn't just an ordinary sigh. It was one filled with agony, sadness and stress. The kind of sigh someone has that's about to give up on something. She couldn't help but feel at least a little bit bad about snapping the way she did, even if it was just her personality. Maybe her regretting snapping like that meant that she's actually 'outgrowing' her troublesome behavior?

Shrugging aside her worries, she drops her towel to the floor and walks over to her bed where she has her trousers and shirt laid out. The pants are a pair of blue skinny jeans, and the shirt is a black band t-shirt from a local metal band called Sacrificial Offering. 

Once fully dressed, Clementine gazes at the clock hanging from her wall and sees that it's still very early. It's 7:40 and breakfast doesn't start until 8:20. She doesn't really mind that though, it gives her some time to play some more music. 

Music really is what completes Clementine's life. She plays so damn much, and it's an amazing method for her to vent her emotions. It has already helped tremendously with releasing anger, which resulted in getting less reports of verbal assault against fellow students in her file. Again, it wasn't like she gave the slightest shit about any of that. The only repercussion of her misbehavior is detention, during which she would just do the homework she'd be doing in her room anyway. 

As soon as the clock hand hits the number twenty, Clementine gets up from her stool and walks over to her door, which, compared to her earlier experience in the bathroom, she confidently opens in one swift motion. When she steps outside, students are already roaming the halls, most of them talking about how they don't feel like going to classes again. She notices a tall redhead towering above all students, who just happens to spot her at the same time and their eyes meet. Minerva immediately winks at Clementine and blows a kiss her way. The shorter girl doesn't hesitate for a single second and flips off Minnie, who just smirked in triumph. 

It's almost like pissing me off is what she was born for, Jesus Christ. 

Walking into the cafeteria, she spots Marlon, Mitch and Sophie sitting at their usual table. Louis was nowhere to be seen. She was kind of surprised to see Mitch and Marlon there, as they would usually have breakfast with their group of bombers. 

Maybe Mitch has… a certain motivation to be here, and Marlon just got dragged into it. That motivation being a girl with long, red hair and a lot of freckles. It's cute how oblivious the two are. I'm sure that I would notice if anyone ever had a crush on me. 

She changes her pace to be a bit quicker, and soon enough she's jogging through the cafeteria to get to her friends. As soon as Marlon spots her, he starts frantically waving his arms around and signaling for her to come over, as if she wasn't already. 

Clementine seats herself next to Sophie, who was in a deep conversation about something with Mitch. She glances at Marlon, who shrugs his shoulders. 

"They've been talking like that for almost ten minutes now," he whispers, making a heart shape with his hands as he does so. Neither Sophie or Mitch seemed to have seen that though. 

Clementine smirks at the two, and then faces back to Marlon. "Let's let them have this. Let's sit down somewhere else."

Marlon nods and he slowly gets up from his seat, Clementine following suit almost immediately after. Neither Mitch or Sophie seem to realize that their two friends had left. 

As Clementine and Marlon sit down at another table, Clementine sees Louis entering the cafeteria from the corner of her eye, but he's not alone. 

Oh god, no… 

Clementine’s eyes go wide in shock when she notices the distinct features of the girl walking with Louis. The purple hue in her hair, piercing green eyes that always seemed to be pulled in Clementine’s direction, and that frown always seems to be plastered on her face. A frown so big it was almost like it was resonating deep in her soul, like she was in pain on the inside and that’s the only thing she can do to show how deep the pain is buried. 

Violet stays quiet as she walks by Louis' side, unable to really perceive anything that was going on. The loud talking and yelling of countless students make it difficult for her to tell who was who and how far away they are. She follows the sound Rosie's collar makes, with Louis leading the way. 

"Clementine!" she hears Louis exclaim. "I wanna introduce you to someone very special I met!"

Violet becomes a bit uneasy, as she was never really a people person to begin with, and now that she was blind that had become even worse. She hates introductions as well; she always feels like people act 'fake' during them to come off as nice and trustworthy as possible, even if they aren't. Violet begins fidget with her hands in anticipation of having to speak to the new person Louis seemed so fond of.

"I've… run into her before," she hears a familiar voice say, and she instantly freezes up. 

It's that piano girl, and she already hates me… that's just great. 

Louis looks between the two girls “You have? That’s weird, she just showed up yesterday. How’d you two lovely ladies already meet?”

“Let’s just say, she has a bit of a staring problem," Clementine says coldly, her tone causing Violet to shrink even lower than she was before.

"Staring problem? She's blind, you pancake," Louis says with a chuckle.

Violet hears that Clementine lets out a stifled yelp. 

"Oh, I uh… I didn't know, sorry," the girl murmurs. 

“I-I tried telling you earlier…” Violet begins after finally mustering up enough courage to speak her mind freely. "But… you wouldn't really listen, so, yeah…"

Violet’s tone is laced with sadness and slight disappointment in herself, making Clementine feel slightly more guilty for snapping at her on more than one occasion. 

Clementine stands up and moves in front of the blonde she was so rude to earlier. Looking into her eyes, Clementine can see just how nervous and upset the girl truly was. Her raspy voice indicating that she doesn’t speak much, obviously not being able to get a word out without being judged harshly. Feeling worse than before by a far margin, Clementine puts her hand on Violet’s shoulder, causing the slightly taller girl to stiffen at the unexpected contact.

“Look, I didn’t mean to snap at you all those times. I honestly thought you were just creeping on me or wanting a lock of my hair or something. I didn’t even know you were blind, but now that I do, can we maybe...start over?” Clementine apologizes, much to Louis and Marlon’s surprise. 

Clementine wasn’t one to always apologize for her outbursts, instead shrugging off the judgement and dirty looks that would come her way. Louis and Marlon had only ever seen the brunette apologize to one or two other people at the school and right now they’re looking at her like she grew an extra head on her shoulders.

Violet listens to every word and tries to detect any hint of sarcasm or malice in Clementine’s voice, finding none, she relaxes her shoulders and allows herself to let a small smile form on her lips. 

"I… sure, I guess?" Violet croaky voice rustled, reminding Clementine on the snapping of leaves and twigs that she steps on during her morning runs. Again, she can't help but feel sorry for how she acted so hideously towards this girl, without even thinking about why she would be 'staring' like that. Clementine might be an asshole in many instances, but it was always with a good reasoning. Now that she realizes that her assholeness was in fact not justified, she genuinely feels terrible.

It's something that other students at the school never really realize. They always remember moments where she's being an asshole, and not the ones where she's actually nice and apologetic, like this one. 

"Well, that's good," Louis comments dryly as he sits down next to Marlon. 

"Observant as ever, Lou," Marlon snickers, standing up as soon as Louis sits down next to him. "I'll grab all of you some food, what do you all want?"

"My usual," Clementine says, helping Violet sit down on a chair. The fair-haired girl already feels a lot more comfortable around Clementine now that she found out that Clementine does in fact have a non-bitchy side to her. She can tell it's one she doesn't show very often though. Once you lose your ability to see, you have to start being able to sense bullshit and intentions by the tone of people's voices, rather than the expression of their faces. Violet's become pretty good at that by now, luckily. Mainly because she had her dad to practice on; he always had an incredible amount of mood swings.

Marlon rolls his eyes and laughs whole-heartedly. "You're literally the only person who actually has those fuckin' chicken nuggets as their sidedish."

"They have chicken nuggets?" Violet questions without skipping a beat. "I mean… I'd, uh, like some of those too, if that's okay," she adds quietly, her enthusiastic attitude instantly getting substituted for her usual timid one again. 

It stays quiet for a short while, but soon after Louis bursts out laughing. "Dude! It looks like Clem has finally met her soulmate!"

Violet turns a bright shade of red and tries to hide her face behind her hands while Clementine lets out a whine that contained a mixture of aggravation and embarrassment. 

"Louis, I swear to god if you don't shut the hell up I'll force feed you baby food with a fucking ladle," she threatens. 

The boy suppresses a laugh. "Point taken, Orange."

"Anyway, I suppose it's gonna be the usual for everyone else as well?" Marlon asks as he quickly scans the people around the table, who all throw him an appreciative nod. The blond boy gets up from his seat and walks away towards kitchen take-out area. As he walks past Violet, he notices her dog lying on the floor besides her. 

"Dude! You've got a dog!" he exclaims eagerly as he crouches down and starts giving Rosie affectionate rubs on her head. 

"Marlon! You can't pet service dogs!" a girl exclaims. Marlon turns around and sees Brody approaching him. 

He shrugs. "Why not?"

"Because it's at work! If you distract it and something happens to Violet, it's your fault. That's how that works."

"That's fucking dumb," he retorts as he huffs and continues to pet Rosie, who had now rolled onto her back. Brody glares at him as he gives the dog a plethora of loving belly rubs. 

"Violet, say something about it!" Brody says defiantly when she catches onto the fact that the green-eyed girl was in fact tolerating Marlon's behavior. 

Violet moves her head in Brody's direction and shrugs. "I mean, I don't really care… if he wants to pet her… it's fine, whatever."

Brody scowls at Violet as if she can see it, but her expression quickly softens when she realizes how nervously the blonde had said that. It's clear to Brody that Violet isn't used to being around people at all, let alone telling them what they're allowed to do and what they're not allowed to do. She turns her attention back to Marlon. "Just remember, if anything happens, I'm holding you responsible."

"Yeah, whatever," Marlon scoffs, standing back up and going his way to grab everyone their food. Brody shakes her head at the boy as his figure shrinks slowly as he walks off into the distance. She sits down next to Louis. 

"So, you met Violet?" Louis asks Brody, who nods in return. 

"Sure did, I talked to her a bit when she first arrived since she's my roomie," she replies, glancing over to see if Violet was listening to her speaking. When she saw that the blonde was focused on saying something to Clementine, she sent her voice into a whisper. "She's really nice but seems like she's gone through a lot. I just hope she's okay, you know? I want to help her but I don't feel there's a lot I can do for her right now. She's got no reason to trust us at all."

Louis looks at her sympathetically and puts his hand on her shoulder. "She'll come around. It's normal that she's nervous around new people in a new environment, you know? Especially if she can't see."

"I don't think I've ever seen you act so mature, Louis," Clementine, who was apparently paying attention to what they were saying, chuckles as she grabs her plate of food from the tray that Marlon had just returned with. She takes Violet's as well, and places it in front of her. "I put your plate in front of you, Violet."

The girl just nods silently and reaches for her fork, which she manages to grab after missing it a few times. She just starts poking at her chicken nuggets with it for a bit, not really paying any mind to anything around her and she wasn't eating either. Clementine's insides started to twist lightly, as she was worried that she might be the cause of Violet's noticeably odd behavior. 

"Violet, are you okay?" Clementine asks sweetly, her motherly side showing, for what might just be the first time in her life. 

Violet visibly trembles at the sudden call of her name and she shuts her eyes tightly. No matter the intent of Clementine's question, getting her name getting called out to her out of the blue scared her. It reminds her of home, but most importantly, her dad. About how he would always shout her name whenever he was mad. About how he would tell her that everything's her fault whenever he broke a glass or cup against a wall. About how he would always break her against a wall.

"Violet?"

About how there would be bruises all over her body and about how there were always gashes on her forehead. About how her feet would be bleeding most of the time because of the countless shards of glass scattered around their floor. About how that situation always made her dad insane in the brain. 

"Violet?!"

"I… I'm fine. Just thinking," she mumbled as she takes her first bite. 

Clementine notices that her posture seems to ease a little as soon as she eats a nugget, so she must've indeed 'just been thinking', or whatever that meant. She decides to disregard Violet's behavior for now and starts mindlessly looking around the cafeteria, and sees an Asian boy coming towards their table. She recognizes him to be James, the boy that sat in front of her during her math classes the previous year. He was really nice, very intelligent and always helped her out whenever she didn't get anything, even if that was a rare occasion. 

"Uh… hey," James mutters as he nears the table, catching the attention of everyone else.

“Hey James," Clementine says, eyeing him curiously as she wonders why he's here. "Take a seat anywhere, I guess."

James nods in silent gratitude as he sits across from Louis and looks around at the group’s faces, checking to see if it really was okay to sit with them. When his eyes meet with Louis’, he quickly drops his gaze back down to his food, hoping no one had noticed the growing redness of his cheeks. James raises his head a moment later once his face returns to its normal color, believing since no one had said anything, they hadn’t noticed his severe crush on the dreadlocked boy that he'd been very secretive about for the past few months. 

However, Clementine saw the entire thing unfold before her very eyes with a sly smirk on her face.

Wonder what he's so gushy about? It's just Louis, for crying out loud.

Deciding not to call James out on his odd behavior in such a public setting, Clementine instead shifts the conversation to another topic at hand.

“So...James, what made you drop by so early today? Something or someone catch your eye?” Clementine asks, looking at the quiet boy as his eyes grow wide in shock. 

“Well, whatever it was, it’s definitely not this horrible food. I don’t know how they can serve shit this bad without it being illegal,” Louis interjects glumly while picking at his food with his fork in disgust. Clementine stares at the boy with an eyebrow raised, wondering just how much of his head was empty space.

Clementine sighs before another idea pops into her head hoping it was enough to get Louis to realize what she’s trying to get at.

“Exactly, this food is hella rancid, Lou. I wonder if someone like James would like something a little more… rich in flavor?” Clementine smirks at Louis, noticing James begin to fidget more and more as time went on.

Louis just stares blankly back at Clementine, much to her annoyance.

“You still don’t get it? Are you kidding me?” 

“Get what, exactly?” Louis questions. 

“Okay, let me slow this down for you, Lou,” Clementine begins. “The food here is basically a trash dump mixed with raw sewage gravy. Poor James here is looking famished and this food isn’t satisfying him. So...he wants something more rich in flavor, maybe even a little on the darker side. Get what I’m saying?” she finishes while leaning forward on the table. 

Louis’ eyes widen in realization as he nods his head. “Oh...I get it now!” Louis looks over at James, making Clementine smile to herself at her cunning plan working its magic.

“James, I have some dark chocolate in my bag if you’d rather have that.” Clementine drops her head on the table in disappointment before Louis winks at her for a second. He once more returns his attention to James immediately after. “Or I could always give you my milk instead.”

Everyone at the table is now staring at Louis, their jaws all lying on the table in disbelief. None more so in disbelief than James himself, whose face was such a deep shade of crimson that the group feared he would pass out any second. Everyone except Violet, who was trying to stifle her laughter over the whole ordeal being played out in around her. 

Brody shakes her head in disgust. "Really, Lou?" 

"What?" Louis asks innocently as he fishes out a bar of milk chocolate from his bag. Everyone stares at him dumbfounded. 

"I've had this line prepared for a while now," he shrugs. "What better time to use it than when a cute Asian boy is sitting across from me?"

Nobody really knows how to respond to that, so they all just to go back to eating their meals. After a few minutes the initial awkwardness dies down, and Louis and James start conversing about their hobbies while Violet and Clementine make sure that they're actually on good terms so they can completely start over. 

Neither of the girls would admit this to the other, but they were both very excited about getting to know each other. 


	5. Chapter 5

Once their hunger was satisfied, Clementine, Louis and Sophie leave the cafeteria, ready to go to their first class of the year; Art. Since Violet has her disability that slows her down a bit in the hallways, she'd left with Brody a few minutes earlier to ensure that she wouldn't be late and also so she wouldn't bump into people. Since Sophie is extremely artistically talented, she would never stop talking about how excited she is for their first lesson the entire walk to their classroom. 

"Didn't our other teacher get fired last year?" Sophie enthusiastically asks. "Man, I hope our new teacher will be a good one. I never really liked that Picasso wanna-be we had during the years before this."

"Sophie,  _ please  _ shut the fuck up," Clementine says, rubbing her temples. "I don't care about what teacher we'll have."

"Way to ruin the mood, shorty," Sophie playfully huffs as she nudges Clementine. 

The brunette sighs. "I. Am. Not. Fucking. Short. And, I'm just not looking forward to classes today. I just wanna go to my room, sleep and never get up again."

As they were nearing the classroom, the distinct chattering of the familiar voices of their classmates become more and more rambunctious. They enter the classroom, and at the computer is indeed sitting a new teacher. He has short, brown hair and his eye color somewhat similar to Clementine's, perhaps a little less vibrant. He definitely seemed like the casual type though, since he hadn't bothered shaving for his first day at work. Clementine spots Brody and Violet sitting at the back of the classroom, but sadly all the seats around them are taken. The three of them slouch towards the front of the classroom and sit in front of their new teacher's desk. When all of the students had finally quieted down and put their attention towards him, he stood up from his chair and introduced himself. 

"Well, my name is Mr. Lawrence, but seeing as I really hate my last name, please call me Luke," he started, eyeing around the classroom to see if anyone were to reject that offer in any way. "Good. Anyway, there's this thing where teachers tell stuff about themselves. So… yeah. My name's Luke Lawrence and I studied Art History at the Virginia Commonwealth University. I have a fianceé, her name is Jane and we're getting married during Christmas this year. No kids, luckily. I wouldn't want to have a little me running around, one is more than plenty. Uh… Oh yeah! I play bass guitar in a local band called  _ Sacrificial Offering _ ."

Clementine stops paying attention to his speech and nudges Louis in his side, causing him to let out a small, stifled yelp. 

"Dude! I knew I recognized him from somewhere! He's in fucking  _ Sacrificial Offering _ ! It's a local band, I love them! I'm kind of ashamed I didn't know who he was immediately," Clementine whispers to Louis, who wasn't really paying attention. Once the realization dawns on him, his eyes widen.

"Dude! That's sick!"

"You two in the front? Care to share what you were talking about?" Luke asks as he narrows his eyes at the two, but his eyes widen when his eyes fall on Clementine. "Hey! You're that chick that's always rocking out on the front row!"

Clementine smiles awkwardly as she points at her shirt. "Yup, that'll be me, I guess."

"Awesome! That's one student I already know I'm going to like. And what's your name?"

"It's Clementine Marsh," she answers.

"Awesomesauce! And whose your boyfriend over there?"

"Uh… he's  _ not  _ my boyfriend," Clementine clarifies, receiving a few smothered laughs from some of her fellow students. "And I think he's perfectly capable of introducing himself, thank you very much."

Luke grins broadly.

"Oh, we've got a feisty one over here. I dig it. Anyway, what's your name?" he asks as he looks at Louis, completely ignoring the completely bewildered state he had left Clementine in. 

"It's Louis Christopher Todd Williams the Fourth, sir. Pleased to make your acquaintance," Louis says with a posh accent as he tips his non-existent fedora. 

Luke breathes out forcefully through his nose as he tries to stifle a laugh. "Right… Now what are you actually called?"

"Louis O'Neill."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Louis. By the looks of things, we should get along just fine," Luke says, smiling at the boy. 

Clementine likes that Mr. Lawrence, or  _ Luke _ , rather, seems to be a really laid back dude. But not just that, he also appears to know what he's doing. He knows how to handle kids and if the new decoration hanging around the classroom were his artworks, he was a really amazing artist as well. Some of the pictures on the far-right side of the wall are a bit more morbid than others though, making Clementine wonder if he ever went through a rough patch in this life recently. They seem to be hung up in chronological order. The class had gotten a bit more rowdy once Luke and Louis had started chatting, so it took some time for it to quiet down again. Once it did, Luke took the word again. 

"So, if I'm looking around the classroom I can see that you've all been generously provided with your own art supplies. It would however seem that they forgot to supply the damn teacher," he sniggers as he looks around the classroom. Many eyes widen when it dawned on the kids that he had in fact use somewhat of a swear word. It might not have been the worst, but it was enough to send some of the guys into a fit of laughter. 

"Didn't Mr. Reggie always keep his box of supplies in the basement?" a female voice spoke randomly, which Clementine recognized that as Erin. 

Erin is a girl that isn't really someone ordinary. Then again, no one is at this school. She has curly, blonde shoulder-length hair and she is a bit chubby. She also has these weird-colored braces that reminded Clementine of a pride flag.

_ Maybe that's… exactly what it is? You do you, Erin.  _

Nobody really knows why Erin was sent to Ericson's, but there were plenty of rumors about what the reason might have been. For example, one story tells that she used to slut around a lot when she was around thirteen years old and her parents were disgusted by it. Another tells that she was bullied so much during her younger years that she simply didn't know how to cope and tried to commit suicide, and her parents didn't know how to deal with that. Clementine found the latter  _ a lot  _ more believable, seeing as Erin had seemed really depressed when she first arrived. She seems a lot happier now though, so that's good. 

"Mr. Reggie was a fuckin' weirdo!" Mitch yells from the back of the class, causing the entire place to fill with laughter. 

Clementine places her hands over her ears to somewhat mute the high volume of everyone's hysterics. Her headache from two days ago still hadn't really gone away, and all the sound waves bouncing off all the surface area of the densely-decorated classroom did  _ not  _ necessarily help. Luke tries to hide his own grinning at first, but eventually gives in at the end. 

"Alright, I shouldn't be laughing," he says as he shakes his head. "Anyway, the basement. Is that far from here?"

"Not really, the entrance is in the dorms. That's the building opposite if this one. Wouldn't take five minutes," Louis says, pointing out the window towards the dormitories. 

Luke turns his attention towards Louis and smiles at him. "Well, if you know where it is, would you and Clementine be kind enough to go grab it for me?"

Clementine immediately starts whining, but Louis grabs her by her collar and practically drags her outside of the classroom. Laughter arises in the classroom from most of the kids when they spot Clementine's absolutely dazed face as she's trying to process what's happening. It's not like she gets dragged out of a classroom by the collar everyday. 

"I bet you'd like doing this to James, too," Clementine smugly comments as Louis lets go off the hem of her shirt, and he immediately blushes. 

"Hey! I don't like-like him, we're just friends!" he defends instantly. 

"Uh huh, I'm sure. That's why I saw him kiss you on the cheek when breakfast was over," Clementine snorts at him. 

"That's not true. Uh… I mean, he kissed me! Not the other way around!" 

"Yeah, right… Let's just get to the damn basement."

Clementine and Louis traverse the smaller courtyard between the school building and the dorms, which is a lot more barren of decoration, benches and plants than the main courtyard is. This was for multiple reasons. At least, Clementine assumed it was on purpose and the school had their justification for leaving the area looking so lifeless. The first being that students walked across it all day, squashing any form of plant life that tried to grow there. There were a few patches of grass and weeds in the corners and at the bottom of the walls of buildings that surrounded the vacant space. Another reason for the place to look equally dead to the Walking Dead TV show fandom, is that the school simply doesn't  _ want  _ anything growing there. In a school filled with 'troublesome' kids, the last thing they want is things to stare at right outside the window, as it would only distract the kids that were usually always looking for someplace else to put their attention. 

They make it to the dorms, and when they enter it is dead silent. It's not something either of them are used to. Usually there'd be some kids talking about school, Mitch would be experimenting with a new 'toy' and there'd just be more kids roaming the halls in general. Now the only thing breaking the silence that lingered in the air, was Clementine's and Louis's muffled footsteps on the old, dusty wooden floor and their silent colloquy about what they thought of their new teacher. While the opinions of his art style were clashing, their viewpoints on him as a person were perfectly harmonized. Both of them think he's not just a really cool teacher, but a very refreshing one as well. 

The contrasts that Luke is already showing compared to some of the other teachers at the school, already strikes a chord in Clementine. And him being in one of her favorite bands most certainly didn't harm her likings for him either. She's sure that at some point they'll be able to talk music during their free time. 

The duo comes to a halt in front of the aged, metal door. The metal had slowly started to rust over time, leaving a rough texture that feels coarse on your skin when you drag your hand across it. It kind of resembles sandpaper in a way. To the left side of the age-old door, there was a small red box containing a fire alarm. One of the kids had once activated it as some stupid joke while there were a bunch of tests going on. While Louis and Sophie were absolutely delighted that they didn't have to do their test, Clementine was extremely hot under the collar, because  _ she'd _ spent the entire previous night studying for the damn thing.

On the right side of the door the two were about to enter, is a small map of the area they currently find themselves in. The floor plan describes the evacuation routes, just in case the dorms were to ever catch fire. So far, Clementine had been genuinely surprised that these routes hadn't been necessary, considering the constant trouble that was being made upstairs. 

"Should we go?" Louis asks as he places his hand on the oxidized doorknob. 

Clementine nods at him and he turns the handle, resulting in the door swinging open widely. Surprised that it wasn't locked, Clementine steps onto the stairs and avoids placing her hands on the corroded handrail. While the doorknob is completely rusted as well, it wasn't so bad that you'd get tetanus from it if you accidentally scratched your finger on it. With these handrails, that was  _ most definitely  _ the case. 

As soon as the brunette descends the ladder, she's hit with a disgusting smell. She coughs violently and places the top of her shirt over her nose to act as some sort of filter. 

"What the hell is this stench?" Louis questions as he mimics Clementine's actions. 

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure this is what dickcheese smells like," the girl answers as she goes starts to look for a light switch. 

It's currently extremely gloomy in the basement. Add that to the revolting smell that's nagging in the air, and you'd have a pretty bad time. Wandering through the basement and dragging her hand across the wall, she eventually hits a small square that feels like it could in fact be the light switch. She starts softly grazing the small box, and eventually finds a button. She pushes it and the lights in the basement turn on. Finally being able to see, she immediately spots what is wrong. 

There was a leakage, and a large puddle of water had formed in the center of the room with a power strip lying right inside it. Clementine follows the cord coming out of the power strip with her eyes, and spots that it leads to an old-looking fridge. A wry frown on her face, she saunters over towards the fridge and pulls it open. 

Almost instantaneously after, the smell strengthens tenfold and Clementine immediately recoils. Louis spots her almost falling over and runs over and grabs her arm, just to make sure that she doesn't. He gives the girl a questioning look, who just gestures to the fridge in return. The two walk towards it, and Louis' eyes widen as he spots what's inside. 

"Dude, is that cheese?" he asks in disgust. 

"Uh… no. That's milk."

"Ugh, fucking gross!" Louis yelps as he slams the fridge door shut. 

Clementine clenches her eyes shut as she tries to ignore the smell that was practically terrorizing her nostrils. She walks away from the fridge and towards the old storage lockers. 

"We should just look for that stupid box. And we should tell a member of the faculty that shit went bad down here. For all we know people can get really sick from that smell," she says as she starts rummaging through all of the old, discarded items that people never really paid attention to anymore. 

She comes across many old, abandoned notebooks that all looked like they'd been partially eaten by silverfish, or any other similar organisms. While Clementine pokes around in the drawers, Louis walks over to a large, hardwood closet that looks really expensive and antique. He swings open the double doors, and smiles in victory when he spots an ancient, well-worn wooden box. 

"I got it!" he says, just loud enough so that his friend can her him. 

Clementine comes walking over to him without skipping a beat and they leave the basement together as quickly as they can, not wasting a single second to flee from the gut wrenching smell. They hastily cross over the familiar, barren open space as they did before, back towards the classroom. They didn't really talk on the way, as the both of them were still quite shaken up and grossed out by the scent that still seemed to be stuck in their noses. When Clementine opens the classroom door, she notices that Violet had moved towards the seat next to hers that had been empty previously. 

Moving over to hand Luke the box, she eyes Violet in a curious manner, wondering what she was doing there. She gives the art supplies to her new teacher, and her and Louis sit back down at their spots. 

Luke smiles at them gratefully. "Thanks guys, you both are lifesavers. I moved Violet to the front by the way, so I can help her better. You know… considering. Is that okay with you?" 

Clementine can tell that he mainly directed that question at her, seeing as Luke could probably tell that Louis was  _ definitely  _ more of a social butterfly than her. 

She shrugs. "It's fine, I guess."

_ Well… should be interesting.  _


	6. Chapter 6

With Luke finally wrapping up his explanation, the students were finally able to focus on the task that lays ahead of them: making a self-portrait with any material they could find, but instead of drawing or sculpting themselves, they have to make something that represents them. This could be done through creating something with a rough texture or a smooth texture. Or drawing something really chaotic, or maybe something that is very neat and organized. 

Clementine didn't really know what she should do for this. She knows that if she got herself some clay, she would only end making various amounts of differently shaped penises. She wasn't really a fan of painting, because the one time she did she'd gotten paint on her fingers, which then made its way onto the keys of her piano. Even though it was very easily avoidable, she was still stubborn enough to never want to give it a try again. Sophie is, obviously, drawing something using her own set of pencils, rather than the ones the school provided. Clementine looks at her drawing briefly, and it already looks more stunning that anything she could even create an image of in her head. Louis is just mindlessly scribbling lines on his piece of paper as he sings the lyrics to one of his own songs. And then Clementine's gaze falls to Violet. 

Being assisted by Luke, Violet was trying her hand on sand art. Luke had laid something on the blonde's table that reminded Clementine of an iPad, except it was around five times bigger. The 'screen' of the tablet emitted a very bright, white light and on top of it he had sprinkled a decent amount of sand. As soon as their teacher left Violet's side, she started gently caressing the sand with an immense amount of concentration. 

Violet closes herself off from the world around her and gets completely lost in shaping the sand the way she wishes it to be. She feels the minuscule, individual grains of sand brush lightly against her skin, each one seeming to tickle her on their own accord. The gentle touch of the grit sends shivers down her spine, which makes her relax into a stupefying trance. She hears the laughing and chattering of the kids around her become more faint and muffled as she inhales deeply through her nose. She starts rubbing small circles with her fingers, the sand snaking around them as she does so. Moving them along the tablet, the blonde hears the very light scrunching of the small grains against the plastic. Savoring every second of peace away from the shitty world around her, she leans back for a moment to really enjoy the moment in its fullest. Picking up the sound of someone approaching her on her left, Violet decides to pull out of her ecstasy and she turns her head towards the nearing footsteps. 

"Do you mind if I join you? I know you were very engrossed, but I asked Luke for one of those tablets and this is the only one they have," a voice very familiar to Violet asks. 

Clementine sits down next to the blonde and awaits a response. While she wasn't sure if Violet would actually be okay with this, seeing as she still wasn't confident in the fact that they were on good terms, she still hoped that the blind girl would be okay with this.

"It's fine, I guess," Violet shrugs as she goes back to leisurely stirring the sand again. "Just take the left side and I'll take the right."

The air between the two girls remains noiseless for quite some time. Clementine didn't really know how to spark up any conversation with the new girl as they were currently both just absentmindedly doodling in the sand. 

"So… what kind of music do you like?" the brunette asks, not really knowing anything else to talk about.

_Please don't be country, please don't be country. Or Shawn Mendes. Fuck that guy_. 

“I-uh… I guess I'm into rock, mostly... Bands like My Chemical Romance and Motionless in White are my usual go-tos whenever I want to, you know... escape for a bit,” Violet explains while continuing to focus on the sand in front of her.

Clementine is still slightly taken aback by the blonde’s choice of music, even if her clothes do represent the genre of the two bands she just listed. She scans Violet's outfit, noting her black t-shirt with the logo of the emo band Never Lost, Never Forgotten plastered on the front. They are pretty well known in Virginia and it looked like the girl had actually managed to get her hands on a shirt sold during their Cesious Wires tour after that album had just been released. She was also rocking a pair of ripped, black jeans with a belt that has a silver skull as a buckle. 

_Not gonna lie, I really dig that look…_

"That's cool. I'm not really into the entire emo scene myself, but I do listen to it sometimes. I'm more of a heavy metal girl, you know? Slipknot, Megadeth, but mostly Lamb of God. They're so fucking good," Clementine rambles. She could get lost talking about her favorite bands and why they were so good for hours on end. 

"But… you play classical music on the piano?" Violet questions timidly. 

Clementine shrugs, not realizing that her blonde companion can't actually see that. "I like that too. Plus you kinda have to when you play piano. But I play guitar as well."

"I used to play guitar back when I could see," Violet says, letting out a sad, disappointed sigh as she does so. "Maybe you can play for me someday? Just so I can sort of experience it again?"

The brunette focuses back on her sand drawing, looking around her for a second before doodling a penis into the sand. "Sure, I guess. Why is being blind preventing you from playing though? You could still feel around and just play that way, right? I sometimes play with my eyes closed as a practice routine."

"I know, and I tried. But it's so goddamn frustrating," Violet says with a pained expression on her face, her movements in the sand slowing down to almost a complete standstill.

Clementine stops drawing and looks over at the now melancholic blonde next to her. Feeling bad for the girl, she bumps her shoulder with her own to catch her attention.

"Look, if you really want to hear me play something that badly, Louis and I do this thing every Saturday for the younger kids here. Kinda like a concert of sorts. We mostly play piano, but I'd be down to bring my guitar down there. You're free to stop by if you don't have anything else keeping you busy," Clementine says nonchalantly, taking the opportunity to draw a stick figure on Violet's side of the sandy pad. 

Violet tilts her head to the direction of Clementine's voice for a moment before dropping it back down to focus on her art once again.

"I'll uh…. I'll think about it. Thanks for the offer, Clementine," Violet responds softly after creating an outline of a bird in the sand.

"Don't mention it. And just so you know, you don't have to keep calling me by my full name if you don't want to," Clementine frowns lightly as she adjusts the brim of her baseball cap. "Most of my friends just call me Clem anyways," she finishes with a shrug.

_I wish I had a cooler nickname though, like Boat God or something ...wait, I hate boats. Eh, maybe Clem isn't so bad after all._

Violet nods silently and continues to add details to her bird drawing. Adding the texture of the wings and the beak. The whole process piquing Clementine's interest, watching how much focus Violet was putting into the smallest of details, especially after starting off with just an outline. Watching her maneuver the sand in such an effortlessly graceful way as if she was put in a trance. Shaking her head for a moment before coming back down to earth.

"What about you? Any nicknames or anything you like being called?"

"Not really, most of the somewhat friendly names I was called weren't exactly things I'd like people to repeat," Violet grimaces at the thought of being called names for being an outsider, escalating even further when she became blind.

Clementine thinks to herself for a moment before snapping her fingers, garnering the attention of the now startled Violet. "Well, how about we just start out with Vi? We shortened my name, the least we could try is the same for you. Better than 'Mitch the Bitch.'" The two girls laugh at the last comment earning an eyebrow raise from Luke before he smiles and goes back to helping another student.

"Vi… I guess I kind of like that?" Violet says quietly, not wanting to really admit to how much she actually loves the sound of it and how it rolled so smoothly of Clementine's tongue. 

"You guess you like it?" Clementine inquires with a small snort. 

Violet sighs and gives in. "Okay, I really like it. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Yup. I mean, I'm really amazing so it'd be weird if you didn't like something I made up for you," Clementine shrugs, now erasing the stick figure she'd doodled on Violet's side earlier and replacing it with a poorly drawn bird of her own. It sort of resembled a parakeet if she turned her head a certain way.

"Right…" Violet chuckles, shaking her head as she finishes adding the details to her bird. 

Clementine is blown away by how much detail Violet was able to add to her bird without being able to see. By the way Violet's nose is scrunched up as she concentrates, she can tell that the blonde's hands seem to have a life of its own as soon as she enters her focused state of mind. 

"Holy Hell dude, are you sure you haven't done this before?" Clementine asks, astonished by the graceful movements she bares witness to. 

"I never said I have," Violet chuckles shyly. "But no, I haven't. This is my first time."

"Interesting choice of words," Clementine comments dryly, which makes Violet turn into a blushing, stuttering mess. 

"W-What? No! I did not mean it like that," she murmurs as she plants her face into the palms of her hands, causing her face to become covered in grains of sand. She curses softly under her breath, both at the mess she made and at her reaction to Clementine's remark. 

"Hm, I bet," Clementine smirks. "Here, let me get that for you," she added as she leans closer towards her new friend. 

Clementine brushes her hands over Violet's cheeks to clean off the sand on her face, which results in the blonde turning an even deeper shade of scarlet. Clementine amusedly raises an eyebrow. 

"Have you ever done it, though?" she asks casually. 

Violet frowns. "Done what?"

"Taken a dick," Clementine adds nonchalantly, still wiping away at Violet's face. "Had a boyfriend, whatever."

It feels as if all the blood that VIolet has in her body rises to her face. She starts sweating lightly, making her skin feel all itchy as she's at a loss for words. "I… what. N-No, I haven--"

"LADIES! How are you two doing?" Louis cheerfully chimes in, crashing down onto the seat next to Violet, startling her. 

"Good, we were just talking about dicks," Clementine answers as she wipes the last remaining grain of sand of the blind girl's face. 

Violet shakes her head in a defense manner. "W-What? No, you were talking about dicks."

Louis grins humorously. "Dude, dicks are fun! There's no shame in talking about dicks."

"HEY! Stop that!" Brody says as she nears the table. She comes to a standstill, glaring at Louis and Clementine as she taps her foot on the ground impatiently. "It's obvious you're making her uncomfortable, so stop it! Those topics are stupid on its own, but when you're talking to someone you barely know it's even worse!"

"Right. Sorry, mom," Clementine quips playfully as she rolls her eyes. 

"Apologize to her."

"What?"

"I said, apologize to her," Brody repeats sternly. 

Clementine looks at her confused. "You're kidding, right?"

"I'm dead freaking serious," the auburn-haired girl says. 

Clementine shakes her head slowly and raises her eyebrows, but she doesn't question it any further. She sighs and turns towards Violet. "Vi, I'm sorry for making you feel uncomfortable. I shouldn't have said those things without knowing if you were okay with talking about them. Please, will you forgive me?"

Now it's Violet's turn for her eyebrows to rise, but hers do in more of a confused manner rather than Clementine's defiant one. "Uh… you're forgiven?"

"Thanks," the brunette chuckles, trying not to burst out into laughter because of the unamused way Brody is glaring daggers at her. 

"Did you just call her Vi? When did that happen?"

Clementine looks at Louis and sends a death glare his way, and he audibly gulps. "Uh… never mind. That's not what I came here. I came here to ask if Violet maybe wants to join us when we hang out tomorrow night. You know, since she seems to somewhat like us?"

"Since when are we hanging out tomorrow night?" Clementine asks. 

"Since now," Louis shrugs. 

Clementine imitates his motion, and Violet does the same thing. 

_I guess we're hanging out tomorrow..._


	7. Chapter 7

The bell rings and students begin to file out of the classrooms and surge into the overpopulated halls. Violet hangs back waiting for the sound of chattering students to subside, trusting Rosie to let her know when the room is mostly empty.

Violet can tell that people took their time exiting the room, probably waiting to see if the new blind student knocked into anything as she got ready to leave. Violet wants them all to stop staring at her, she just wants to be invisible. As if that would ever be achieved with her cane and service dog duo making her stand out like a sore thumb.

Violet takes a step and feels the harness pull gently in her hand as Rosie begins to walk alongside Violet. Avoiding the tables and chairs left discarded in the middle of the aisle, Violet makes her way towards the door, listening to the clamouring of student chatter growing louder as she steps into the corridor. Violet sighs and stands as close to the wall as possible while she feels people rush by her.

The blonde tries to pull up her mental map of the boarding school in her head, piecing together which direction she needs to go in to find her dormitory once again. The noise around her, however, is too loud for her to concentrate and Violet frowns and scratches the back of Rosie’s ears in an attempt to calm her building anxiety.

There’s a gentle tap on her shoulder and Violet automatically turns at the contact, waiting for the person who touched her to introduce themselves. “Hey,” comes the voice of the pianist just off to Violet’s side. The blonde recognises it as belonging to Clementine and she smiles.

“You look like you need a hand,” says Clementine as she settles her hand back down by her side. Violet looks in her general direction and smiles at her. Clementine thinks of how often she’s seen Violet with a frown painted on her face, she’s happy that the blonde is finally smiling.

“Yeah, that would be nice,” says Violet quietly as her nerves threaten to overwhelm her. Clementine is offering her help, and all Violet wants is to spend more time with Clementine. Though she’s still unsure about her feelings and if they’d ever be reciprocated, she won’t say no to a helping hand.

“I hold your elbow right?” questions Clementine as she moves her fingers to Violet’s arm. Violet feels her skin flush as Clementine gently grasps Violet’s elbow, the contact causes the blonde to blush and her breath to exit her mouth in shaky puffs. Unable to speak, Violet nods, hoping that she’s facing Clementine.

Violet tightens her grip on Rosie’s harness and takes a step forward, feeling Clementine by her side gently pushing her towards a hallway to the left. Violet lets her mind wander while she’s guided back to the dormitory, sandwiched between Rosie and Clementine.

All Violet can think about is Clementine’s hand on her elbow, the way that the piano girl softly pulls her in new directions, how warm her fingers are on Violet’s arm. She’s wearing a simple perfume and Violet breathes it in, feeling the smell calm her building nerves. Clementine clears her throat and comes to a standstill; Violet stops too and looks over to her side where she knows Clementine has halted.

“Are we here?” asks Violet as she reaches out her hand and feels the sturdy door just in front of her, she traces her fingers over the number on the door, recognising it as her own. Violet swallows hard and thinks about inviting Clementine in, knowing how close they’ve grown over the past few days and knowing how much she wants to spend more time with her.

“I’ll get the door for you,” says Clementine, and Violet hears the door unlock and then feels a cool breeze against her skin, wafting in from the open window at the back of her room. The blonde is aware of Clementine moving into her empty dormitory and Violet follows her, using the sound of the other girl's footsteps as a guide.

“Hey,” says Clementine as she moves across the room. The brunette heads over to Violet’s bed and looks over to the discarded papers on top of her bedsheets, all of them brightened by watercolours and acrylics. Clementine gently lifts one of the paintings to her face, aware of Violet standing in the open door, obviously wondering what the other girl is doing.

“Are these yours?” says Clementine as she runs her hand along the course paper, swirling her fingertips along with the blend of mismatched colours bleeding together on the page.

Violet reaches out and closes the door behind her before leaning down and clumsily unclipping Rosie’s harness. “Um, is what mine?” asks Violet as she stands again and uses her cane to move closer to the other girl.

“Oh shit, I’m sorry,” replies Clementine as she gently replaces the painting on the bed. Violet carefully moves over to the bed and brushes the papers away before she sits down on the mattress. Rosie curls up at her feet.

“These paintings,” says Clementine as she picks up another one, studying the way the greens melt into a bold yellow before transitioning to a deep red.

Violet’s mouth falls into an o as she understands what the other girl is looking at, “oh, those are silly” says Violet as she pats the bed beside her, trying to gather all of the paintings and hide them beneath her pillow.

Clementine places her hand over Violet’s and the contact makes Violet blush, “they’re not silly,” replies Clementine as she neatly stacks the paintings and sits down on the bed beside the blonde. There are a few inches between them.

Violet feels the bed sink next to her and notes the silence that’s fallen over them. Violet can hear the crinkling of paper and inhales deeply as she decides to discuss the art with Clementine. She’s trying to open up more and Violet can’t deny that she’d like to become closer to the piano playing girl.

“Before I lost my sight I used to paint all the time, nothing serious, in fact, I used to tell people that I hated arts and crafts but that was always a front. I like the idea of creating something new and unique, so I still paint now. It’s,even more, relaxing now that I don’t have to worry about the colours or staying within the lines. Now it’s just the enjoyment that comes with creating something mysterious, I like to imagine what’s on the page even though I can’t see it.” Violet holds her breath while she waits for Clementine’s response, outside she can hear students making their way through the corridors.

“That’s a really nice way to look at it,” says Clementine as she sets the paintings down and stands, wandering to the desk and spotting the painting supplies set up there. “Do you mind if I have a go?” Clementine remembers the paint transfer to the piano incident and her stubbornness about never painting again. Yet for some reason, she wants to do this for Violet.

Violet shakes her head before suddenly worrying that Clementine isn’t looking at her and she clears her throat as she speaks. “No I don’t mind, you’re artistic so you’ll probably be a natural.”

“Well, I’m more musical than artistic,” replies Clementine as she dips the paintbrush into the red ink, “playing the piano is kind of like my escape in its own way. Following the music, listening to the tune, tickling the ivories.” She smiles at Violet before realising the other girl can’t see her. Instead, Clementine breathes out and turns her focus to the colours on the paper in front of her, “I don’t know, I find it very peaceful.”

Violet nods and shifts up the bed so she’s closer to the desk where she can hear the strokes of a paintbrush. In her mind Violet sees vivid colours bleeding into each other, she picks up one of her own paintings and wishes that she could see the colours in front of her face. With one hand she traces meaningless shapes on the paper trying to imagine what lies beneath her fingertips.

“I don’t know if I’m any good at this,” says Clementine as she taps her paintbrush against the pot of water left on the desk.

“That doesn’t really matter,” says Violet, “you can’t be any worse than me.” A small smile breaks on Violet’s face as she tries to make light of the situation.

Clementine bites her lip as she focuses on her painting, careful to blend the colours to create the perfect hue of green on the thick acid paper. Although it’s not likely to take over her main passion for music, Clementine can see why Violet loses herself in this hobby. She drops the paintbrush on the table as she lifts her creation, smiling at the bold colours on the page.

“All done,” says Clementine proudly as she pushes her chair away from the desk and stands up as she looks down at her painting. Violet moves over and reaches her hand out looking for the sturdy chair. Clementine helps her take a seat by the table and watches with glee as Violet’s finger fumbles against the wooden desk until she comes across the paper, trying not to touch the wet ink.

“I wish I could see what it is,” says Violet with sadness tainting her voice. Clementine frowns and looks down at Violet in the chair by her side. The blonde looks small as if she’s hunched in on herself to try and diminish her state of sorrow. Clementine finds herself feeling suddenly protective of the other girl, wanting to bring her joy and add happiness to her life.

It’s a warm day and as the brunette looks back to the painting on the table, she feels her heart soften to see that Violet’s enclosed the painting within her hands, even though she has no idea what it is. Just the fact that it’s something Clementine created is enough for the blonde to want to treasure it.

“Well, how about I show you,” says Clementine, soothing her voice and gently letting her hand rest on Violet’s shoulder as she kneels by the side of the blonde. Clementine rolls her hand down Violet’s shoulder and very carefully takes the other girls hand, watching Violet and gauging her reaction. Violet feels herself heat up as Clementine wraps her palm around the back of her hand. She squeezes once, confident, assured and bold.

Violet on the other hand sharply inhales and feels her face heat up at the feeling of Clementine touching her, and not to guide her or help Violet out. Clementine is touching her because she wants to.

The blonde is almost in a daze as she feels Clementine move her hand over the desk, bending out Violet’s pointer finger as she presses the blonde’s fingertip against the rough paper, it feels slightly wet on her skin. “It’s green here,” says Clementine with a hum, moving Violet’s finger up the page in a straight line.

“Then here,” says Clementine thoughtfully as she draws small ovals over the paper, “these areas are all purple.” Violet nods, too focused on the description of the painting to find any words. “Little purple triangles with soft edges.”

Violet nods as she tries to piece together all the imagery Clementine is throwing at her. “There are little blobs of white here,” continues the other girl as she presses Violet’s finger onto the paper, a few millimetres away from the purple shapes. “There’s also some yellow here,” says Clementine, keeping Violet’s hand in the same area, “it’s probably not completely true to real life but I’m a newbie at this.”

Clementine carefully releases Violet’s hand, and the blonde finds herself missing the contact immediately. “I still don’t know what it is,” says Violet sheepishly, racking her brain for any similarities she can remember from the days where she had sight.

“That’s okay,” replies Clementine, “it’s not the best painting.”

“So,” says Violet eagerly, “what is it?”

“It’s a violet,” replies Clementine as she smiles at her creation, “thought it would be fitting considering your name, maybe you can keep it with your other paintings.”

Violet smiles. She seems to smile a lot when Clementine is around, “I’ll treasure it,” she promises.

“I’ve got to go,” says Clementine as she fumbles in her pocket for her mobile phone which begins to buzz in her hand, “Louis is calling me, he’s uh… got a date tonight.”

“With James?” Violet asks almost without thinking.

“Yeah,” says Clementine as she runs her thumb across the smudges on her screen, “he’s really excited.”

Violet smiles to herself as she dips her head down, wondering if that will ever be her in that situation. Looking forward to a date, spending the whole day eagerly awaiting the events of the evening. She doubts that it will happen but if it does, she hopes it’s with Clementine.

-

“This place is pretty cool,” admits James in a hushed tone as he wanders through the planetarium towards the large theatre, Louis is a few inches from his side, occasionally their hands brush together but neither boy can quite bring himself to take the others hand.

“My parents used to come here all the time, I’ve always wanted to go but it had to be with the right person,” says Louis with a smile as the two file slowly into the main area, a domed theatre. Above them, the ceiling is covered in a black screen which for now is turned off.

“Am I the right person?” asks James with a coy smile. As the two boys find their seats Louis summons up the courage to take the other boys hand.

“I hope so,” he says as he feels James shyly slide his fingers in the gaps between Louis’s. The lights around them dim and the black dome above them slowly lights up with thousands of stars. Louis grips tightly onto James's hand as the presentation begins to unfold.

James watches the screen overhead intently but Louis finds that he can’t quite keep his eyes off of his date. In the dim light, James’s face is bathed in cool blue light, the hue changing as the video moves forward to focus on the planet of Mars. Louis flicks his gaze back to the screen overhead and watches as the red planet spins round and round in circles. Soon enough he finds his gaze pulled back to James, and that’s when he smiles.

-

After the presentation has concluded the two boys exit the theatre, hand in hand with smiles plastered on their faces. They wander towards the main building where numerous models of planets and space stations are held from cords hanging down from the ceiling.

“What did you think of the show?” asks Louis as he looks the other boy in the eye. James blushes at the steady eye contact.

“It was great, really spectacular.” James lets his eyes linger on Louis and his voice tapers off as he carries on talking, “really handsome.”

“Handsome?” says Louis with a grin and a surge of affection in his heart.

James goes bright red at his slip up and fumbles over his next few sentences. “Uh, beautiful, I meant that the stars were beautiful.”

“Right,” says Louis as he continues to grin. The two boys lean against the railings that circle a large rocket. The structure stands tall pointing up towards the ceiling high above them.

James clears his throat. “Sorry I’m just a bit nervous about this, I like you but I haven’t been on a date since Charlie.”

Louis looks at the people around them before glancing back to James, “that’s fine,” he says softly, he takes James hand once more and leads him to a quieter section of the planetarium. “I haven’t been on a date with anyone,” he says calmly, he leans against the wall and tucks his hands into his pockets. “I guess I’ve always worried that I would open up to someone and they wouldn’t feel the same.” He clears his throat and gestures for James to stand by his side.

“But you asked me out,” says James with a smile.

“I did,” says Louis, he can’t help but grin. “I don’t know,” he says to his feet, “I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

James turns to face Louis and leans his shoulder against the side of the wall. “You’re a very smooth talker, do you know that,” he mumbles with a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“Well I try,” says Louis with a grin, feeling his usual confidence and assurance return. He also turns to face James and for a few silent moments, the two boys take each other’s features in. James has kind eyes and Louis has a warm smile; they both find themselves ever so slowly moving closer to each other.

The buzz of people around them slowly dies down, the lights glow and the reflection of stars from a nearby projector paints both boys in a low light hue. Their first kiss is tentative and slow, each boy unsure of their actions but beginning to warm up to the act as their hands settle on each other’s shoulders and arms.

When they break apart they smile at each other, before James turns away, feeling shy at the interaction between them. Still, he reaches out to take Louis’s hand, feeling his heart spur with feelings of affection and longing.

“Hey, I almost forgot,” says Louis with his classic smirk. “I got you something.”

James raises his eyebrow as he watches Louis dig into the depth of his jacket, pulling his hand back to reveal a bar of chocolate in his open palm. James looks at the confectionary with a puzzled look, raising one eyebrow as he takes the chocolate bar from the other boy.

“Uh… thanks,” says James still confused.

Louis returns his hands to his pockets as he winks at his date, “I figured you needed more chocolate in your life,” he says with a grin.

James purses his lips before smiling and reaching out to take Louis’s hand. The two boys beam at each other before they head off into the heart of the planetarium.


	8. Chapter 8

"Louis, for God's sake, I'm telling you this one more time. I'm happy for you, but you can stop telling me that you and James had an amazing date. Seventeen times is more than enough," Clementine grunts, rubbing her temple. 

"Dude, James and I  _ totally  _ had the best day ever! And why did you count?" he questions, now nearing the place that Clementine had gracefully dubbed 'Their home away from home.'

"Of course I didn't count, you fucking twatwaffle."

"Ouch, Clem. Go easy on my repaired broken heart, James only recently mended it."

"You're so fucking dramatic."

"I am  _ extremely _ not dramatic, how dare you!"

The two continue bickering for a prolonged period of time as they near 'Canadian Corrosion', which is an abandoned train station somewhere south-west of the school grounds. Were they allowed to go here? Nope. Did they give a shit? Heh, nope. 

As they follow the rarely used gravel trail, the amount of wildlife in the surrounding forest starts to gradually increase. Since their friend group is the only one who ever comes out here, and scaring away animals  _ isn't  _ a hobby of theirs, all the animals stick around this area. The old train station was often used by them to take shelter during thunderstorms or when predators are near. Today though, it was being used as a spot to barbeque. 

Mitch,  _ obviously _ , was the one who provided said barbeque. It isn't really a barbeque though, it  _ may  _ or  _ may not  _ be a shopping cart that he stole from the nearest Walmart one day. The cart could serve its duty as a grill perfectly well, and getting a fire started wasn't really a problem for the pyromaniac either. 

Now nearing Canadian Corrosion for the first time this year, Clementine takes in all the details of the place once more. It's the rustic vibe, that's somehow chaotic at the same time, that it gives off that makes Clementine feel really at home. The person who used to own Canadian Corrosion is the same person that owned a bunch of junkyards around the country. Ironically, the train station had turned into a junkyard as well. The area that surrounds the station itself is absolutely covered in old, abandoned train carts, sheet metal and just a bunch of other trash. 

To the side of the main building of the place, there's a small farm which Ruby had tried to upkeep, but failed at doing so. The plant life that took over after the entire thing was abandoned was too much for some kids to get under control. So, stealing from the school's greenhouse it is. 

Walking onto the familiar grounds, they hear the voices of some, if not most of their friends. They round the last corner, and are met with the sight of Sophie, Mitch, Ruby and Marlon. 

"No, Mitch! We're  _ not  _ killing a squirrel!" Ruby orders sternly. 

"Why the fuck not? It could taste good!" he immediately retorts. 

Sophie lets out a sigh, but fails to hide her laughter. "Come on, Mitch. Drop it. Brody should be bringing more than enough food for us all."

Mitch lets out a few grumbles, but upon registering that Sophie had told him that as she put her hands on his shoulder, he instantly stiffens and just nods. "Okay."

Clementine looks around and can't help but notice the absence of two people. Brody and Violet. She looks towards the main building to see if they've maybe gone inside, but it looks to be empty as well. 

"Where's Violet and Brody?" the brunette ponders out loud, getting the attention of a few people around her. 

"I don't know, actually. Brody's the one bringing all the food, so we better hope she shows up," Mitch snickers as he starts messing around with his setup, currently consisting of a few logs of wood and the shopping cart.

Clementine raises an eyebrow at the boy's attitude. "That is  _ not  _ what I am worried about. If they get lost, Brody is gonna have a panic attack and Violet won't be able to do jack-shit because she's blind."

"Relax, dude. I'm sure they'll be fine."

***

Violet stirs softly in her sleep, reacting to the soft knocks she heard on the door of her and Brody's room. Apparently even now, her and Rosie can't just have a peaceful afternoon nap. The door creaks open, and Violet hears a familiar pair of footsteps silently entering the room. 

"Hey Brody," she murmurs as she stretches her limbs. She hears Rosie doing the same thing next to her. 

"How did you know it was me?" Brody confusedly asks. 

Violet hears that her roommate appears to be carrying some sort of luggage. A plastic bag of some sort? She decides to ask about it later. "Your footsteps. They're distinct from the others'."

She hears Brody chuckle. "Darn, okay. That's pretty cool, but very creepy at the same time."

"I guess," Violet shrugs. "What's with the bags you're carrying? Are you going somewhere?"

Brody looks at her new roomie in disbelief, as she had no clue how she knew she was carrying those bags. She never even heard the bags rustle herself, yet Violet had already seem to have caught onto them. Do they like, smell or something?

"We're hanging out tonight, remember? I'm bringing all the food. It took a lot of work of pretending and perhaps a  _ bit  _ of manipulation, but I finally got the woman at the cafeteria to give me enough crap for all of us," Brody answers, now reaching gently grabbing hold of Violet's shoulder. "Let's go. We're already running late."

"But I just slept! My hair probably looks like ass," Violet complains as she lets herself get dragged up by her new friend.

"I actually like it this way, it's kinda hot. Now, get your butt moving," Brody chuckles, watching Violet turn red. 

"Brody, come on. You did  _ not  _ just say that," the blonde whines, but she doesn't put up any kind of struggle when Brody pulls her out of the room, Rosie following by their side. 

They make their way across the courtyard, that was surprisingly empty of kids. Then again, it was still pretty early in the afternoon so most of the kids were still working hard on the homework that they had gotten assigned that day. As they leave the school grounds, Brody notices fresh footsteps on the dirt beneath their feet, and she recognizes one of the shoes' prints to be those of Louis. He's always wearing the same fancy boots that his parents once sent him for Christmas. As the duo make their way down the gravel path, Brody starts wondering about what Violet's life would've been like before she was sent towards Ericson's. Surely it must've been somewhat decent before her accident happened. Or was it even an accident at all? She'd never actually said if she was born blind or if something caused it. But if she was born with it, then her parents would've surely adjusted to her different way of living and she wouldn't have been sent here at all, right? Was her blindness even the reason that she was sent here in the first place?

More questions fill Brody's head as she tries to come up with answers, so she just shakes all of them out and puts her focus on the trail in front of her once more. 

"We're getting close," Violet comments out of nowhere, startling the girl besides her a little. 

Brody looks at her confused,  _ again _ . "How do you know?"

"I can hear them talking."

"You can hear them?"

Violet just hums gently in response, still 'staring' into the distance. By now, Brody too can hear the voices of her friends become more distinct in the distance. 

***

Clementine hears the snapping of twigs and leaves coming from the forest the her right, and looks around to see Violet and Brody walking onto Canadian Corrosion's grounds. 

"See! I told you they'd be fine," Clementine grumbles at Mitch. "Now you can stop bugging me every two minutes about how Violet fell into the stream."

"Relax, I was just messin' with you. There's no way in hell that Brody would ever let her go near that river with her blindness."

"I know, but you reminding me that something bad could've happened still makes me worry, dickhead," the brunette retorts, snapping her head around when she feels a hand on her shoulder. It's Violet. 

"It's okay, we made it," the blonde murmurs, now retracting her hand as her face becomes a dark shade of crimson. 

_ Uh… what was that about? _

Clementine pushes aside her thoughts and sighs. "I know, sometimes my inner Brody just takes over, y'know?"

"You have an inner Brody? That's funny, that never showed until a  _ certain someone  _ made their appearance at the school," Louis comments smugly as he walks up behind Violet. 

Clementine glares at him. "And what is  _ that  _ supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just observing. Anyway, I think that while our grill is being prepared, we can play a little game in the process. I already asked Mitch and Brody who are fixing the fire and food, and they can play with us as they work on that. So yeah, that's good," Louis says as he throws his arms over the shoulders of the two girls and leads them towards their bonfire. 

"Of course, we're playing one of your stupid games," Clementine grins amusedly as she rolls her eyes. "Which one is it this time?"

"It's truth or dare, my good friend," Louis exclaims dramatically. 

Violet raises an eyebrow at the boy's questionable behavior, but doesn't comment on it. 

“Oh great...are we still doing  _ your _ version of truth or dare with your dumb pack of cards?” Clementine mocks before thinking for a moment. “Come to think of it, how in the asscheeks are we gonna play without Violet seeing what card she has?” 

The three of them make it to the bonfire and Louis lowers the girls onto the nearby log, not looking confused or bothered by the brunette’s sudden question in the slightest.

“Well, first off, these cards are iconic as hell so they’re FAR from dumb! And secondly, it’s not like our cards are a secret anyways so we can just verbally announce if she’s won or lost the round,” Louis explains calmly while shuffling the deck in his hands with expert precision.

“So...I know how to play truth or dare like the normal way,” Violet begins while stretching her legs out in front of her. “but you guys keep saying something about cards?”

Louis snaps his fingers in realization. “Right! So to make things more interesting and random in the game we’ve implemented a deck of cards. It’s super special and changes the game COMPLETELY!”

“Basically whoever has the highest card asks the question or dare and whoever has the lowest card has to do it. Whoop-de-do so special,” Clem interrupts, much to Louis’ dismay.

“Spoilsport.”

“Dumbass.”

“HAT HAIR!”

“DUMBASS!”

“HEY!” Brody suddenly shouts from the fire. “Can you both just shut up and start the game before you get into a fight and almost ruin our night?” Clementine and Louis mumble their apologies to Brody and each other before Louis hands everyone their first card.

“Well would you look at that, Victory Violet won the first hand and poor Clemmy lost,” Louis jokes before ducking out of the way of a beer can Clementine had thrown his way.

Smirking slightly, the caramel-skinned girl looks at the blonde to her left. “Do your worst, I can take pretty much anything.”

Violet stiffens at the girl’s offhand remark. Should she really ask her something really personal, or make her do something that would embarrass her to no end? And if she did, how would Clementine really react? Thinking it over for a few more moments, Violet decides to start the game off with a simple question, nothing too crazy yet.

“Truth, what’s your uh...favorite color?” 

“That’s it? Easy, purple is by far the best color known to man! Anyone who disagrees can go lick peanut butter from a hobo’s foot,” Clementine grins before turning her attention to a giggling Louis. “Something funny, Dreadhead?”

“Oh nothing really, I just think it’s really cute how purple is your favorite color. Don’t you think so too,  _ Violet _ ?” The boy remarks with a challenging look to the brunette who is currently staring daggers at him and mouthing the words “Go die” over and over. Violet however was completely red when she finally got what Louis was referring to.

“T-that’s a cool c-color. Next round please?” The blonde stutters out, much to Louis’ pleasure, only furthering his suspicions. 

“Look alive, it’s time for round two!” Louis exclaims as he passes the deck around once more. To everyone’s surprise, Sophie had drawn the high card and by some fortunate twist of fate, Mitch had the lowest card. Both teens look at each other for a moment before Sophie turns away with a slight blush dusting her cheeks.

Clementine looks towards the redhead with hope in her heart, praying with everything in her being that Sophie will be smooth in this critical situation in an otherwise meaningless card game. Sophie glances at her and receives a knowing wink in return, goading her into being confident for once in her life. With a shaky breath, Sophie returns her gaze to Mitch before speaking. 

“Mitch, I want you to do a dare.” 

_ Yes! You’re almost there, Soph! You got this! _

“I dare you to...um...shotgun a...beer?” Sophie finishes, even though it comes out more as a question than anything else. She quickly tosses a can of beer to the wide-eyed Mitch.

_ That...could've gone so much better. But, it’s progress, I guess… _

Mitch takes one last look between Sophie and the can in his hand before shrugging his shoulders and moving away from the fire. Manipulating the can in his hands, Mitch smiles when he finds the sweet spot on the side of the can and pushes down onto it with immense force. Putting his mouth on the hole he just created, he begins to drain the beer down his throat with incredible speed, finishing it in just under fifteen seconds, not that Marlon was counting or anything. 

Mitch crushes the can in his hand with a satisfied sigh, tossing it in the random pile of metal behind him to the sound of applause coming from his group of friends, none louder than Sophie of course, who earns herself a smile from the boy in return.

“Well, damn Mitch! If I had a guy who could-” Louis begins.

“Yeah, we get it, Lou. Should've used that line during your date with James for the love of Christ. Start the next round already,” Clementine remarks with an eye roll, causing Violet to snicker slightly at the comment.

"Uh… right," Louis replies quickly, as the rest of the group hadn't known about his date yesterday. He hands everyone the deck so they can all grab a card again. Everyone around the campfire, except Violet, looks around to see who the winner is. The victor becomes apparent when Clementine cheers, the cheer only becoming louder when she realizes that Brody was the one who had drawn the lowest card. 

"This should be good," Clementine smugly comments, rubbing her hands together in a mischievous way. 

"Sorry, but who won?" Violet asks timidly. 

"Right, sorry. I won and Brody lost," the brunette answers, still enthusiastic over her victory. 

Louis decides to add to the conversation. "That means that you, Violet, will get to know your new roomie a little bit better!"

"Yup, let me think of something here," Clementine comments. 

_ Brody never really talks about herself. She only makes sure that others don't do dumb shit. Perhaps she's willing to spill a little tea on her love life? _

"So… Brody. Of the people in this circle, who would you most likely allow to broom your womb?"

"Jesus Christ, Clem!" Brody exclaims.

“What? It’s a perfectly reasonable question to ask in a game of truth or dare!”

“But did you have to say it like… like that?” Brody says in a huff.

Clementine shrugs with a smirk on her lips. “It doesn’t matter how I said it Brodes, all that matters right now is your answer. So spill it already, who’s the lucky guy or gal?”

_ It’s not like we all don’t already know who it is anyways. But I doubt  _ HE _ knows it quite yet. Damn, I’m such a good wingman. I should be getting paid for this. _

Brody looks around nervously, trying desperately to find anything that can get her out of answering the question. Seeing none, she puts her head in her hands before softly mumbling out a name. Looking up for a mere moment before noticing a certain brunette’s wry smile and her hand cupped to her ear.

“What was that, Brody? None of us quite caught that.”

“I SAID MARLON, OKAY?! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?” Brody shouts, fuming in anger and frustration at having to out her secret crush to her entire group of friends… including Marlon himself who was just staring at her, dumbstruck over the surprise confession.

“Hell yes, I’m happy! It only took you  _ this long _ to finally tell ratboy over there you liked him!” the brunette exclaims happily while raising her beer in approval. “Now then, you two can talk about that later, it’s time for round four bitches!”

Snagging the cards from Louis, Clementine begins to deal out the cards by deftly throwing each member of their circle a card. Feeling satisfied with her skills, she quickly sets the deck down as each teen flips their card over. Revealing to everyone that Louis had won and Violet had lost.

“Sorry Vi, you lost this round.” Clementine says as Violet nods in understanding. The group goes silent for a moment as Louis thinks of something to ask the blonde. Noticing his hesitation, Violet speaks up.

"Go ahead and ask me something, Louis. I'm not as fragile as you think I am, I guess," she mumbles.

Louis clears his throat awkwardly before wiping his hands on his coat. "What was your favorite thing to do when you could… you know, see?" The group becomes tense as their shocked faces turn to Violet's direction, awaiting her answer with nervousness and a hint of anticipation. 

Violet's brow furrows in deep thought, remembering the past when she could see was hard for her emotionally, just reminding herself of all the things she could never have another chance of looking at again wore her down. But she slowly began to come to grips with it over the many weeks and months, so now it's more like a numbness spreading over her body when she thinks back to happier times.

Taking her lack of an answer as Violet being offended, Clementine glares at the dark skinned boy across from her. As she got up and begins to make her way over to him, she stops suddenly and turns to the source of a raspy voice behind her.

"Stargazing," Violet says softly with a wistful, far off look in her eyes. "I loved going out onto my roof at night and just staring at the millions of stars above my head. Making up constellations and shit for fun. It was one of the only times I could be alone with my thoughts, no judgement and no fear," she finishes with a small tear threatening to fall.

Clementine gives one last look to Louis before returning to Violet's side. The mood shifting from one of anticipation to a more somber mood. The teens all turn their attention to the fire as they think about the life Violet has had since becoming blind. Wondering just how much they had taken the simple sense of sight for granted. 

And with that final thought weighing on their minds, the group falls silent, the fire of the campfire gloomily dancing in their eyes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	9. Chapter 9

The group remains silent for quite some time, taking in the heartfelt information that Violet had just shared with them. At first, what Violet said might not seem like _that_ big of a deal, but the longer you let it sink in, the more you realize what all had been taken away from her. She'd never get to see the stars again. She'd never get to see her friends again. She'd never get to see _herself_ again. It's just… a hollow existence. 

"Should… we continue?" Louis asks, breaking the silence that had dawled in the air for around five minutes now. 

Clementine looks at Violet, noticing that the blonde's expression remained stale. "Yeah… I think it's smart to not end it on a depressing thing."

"I agree," Violet mutters under her breath. 

"Well, I guess we should take a card again then," Louis proposes as he lets the stack go around the circle of children again. All take a card in silence, some of them still sending short, apologetic glances in Violet's direction, even if she can't see them. 

"Looks like Brody won and Violet lost," Sophie says, throwing a quick glance at everyone's card. Violet sighs in disappointment, but she's glad that Brody is the one that won this time. Perhaps she'd get a question a little less… depressing, morbid _or_ sexual. 

Brody ponders for a second before speaking up in a gentle voice. "Violet, what's your favorite hobby?"

Violet's face immediately drops and she looks at the floor. "Nothing. There's nothing interesting about me. I just kind of exist. I guess that's my favorite hobby. Existing."

"Come on, that can't b--"

"IT IS true, Brody. I'm just a fucking shell, wasting the oxygen in this atmosphere that's already running low on it as is."

"Vi, do you really think that?"

That voice. The voice that for some reason immediately soothes her. That nickname that rolls of _that_ tongue so smoothly. Violet turns her head towards the source of Clementine's voice. She feels her breathing slow down and her head become more clear. But then, her heartbeat picks up again and feels the heat rising to her cheeks, realising that she'd been 'staring' at Clementine again for an extensive amount of time. 

"I-uh… I mean, no, I guess? Th-this entire blind thing just fucking s-sucks," she murmurs as she hides her face in her shirt. While she can't see it, she's certain that every person is probably looking at her in a questionable manner right now. 

"Well, that's good. Because everything you said about yourself just now is absolutely _not_ true," Clementine says. Violet obviously can't see her, but she can tell by the sound of her new friend's voice that she's smiling slightly. _Friend._ For some reason thinking about that word stung the blonde a little… She can't quite catch on to what that means, though. She's never felt this way. 

"Softie Clemendoodle makes me uncomfortable," Louis jokes. "It's super weird hearing Clem talk like that. Usually she just tells people to 'grow a fucking pair and stop crying like a baby platypus that got lost in the deserts of Burkina Faso.' "

"That was _one_ time!" Clementine retorts. 

"Yup, and the teacher didn't appreciate it when you told him that. Didn't you get a month's worth of detention?"

"...It was two months."

"Oh, right! Excuse me, _two_ months."

"I'm gonna fucking k--"

"STOP IT!"

The bickering duo flinches at Brody's sudden outburst and immediately both shut their mouths. 

"Can you two just _not_ get in a fight for like, _two minutes_?" Brody asks as she glares at the two of them. 

"Technically? Yes. Realistically? No," Clementine murmurs under her breath, only Violet being able to hear it. The blonde snorts loudly trying to suppress her laugh, which makes her turn crimson in embarrassment. 

"Now, _that_ was fucking adorable," Clementine says without thinking, which causes Louis to let out an airy 'Ha!' 

"What was that, Clem?" Sophie questions playfully. 

"I… nothing," the brunette mumbles. 

_Where the hell did that come from? Good job, me._

"Right…"

"Fucking drop it, okay?" Clementine snaps. 

"Jesus, fine. I'm just teasing," Sophie huffs a little defiantly.

"The barbeque is ready, boys and girls!" Mitch exclaims eagerly, walking over to the bag of food that Brody had brought with her. He looks inside and gaps. "Jesus Christ, how did you get so much?"

Brody shrugs. "I told them that I lost both my parents in a car crash yesterday and that my dad always loved to barbeque."

Everyone's jaws drop to the floor, but Louis is the one to break it. "You know, I never thought she had it in her."

"Neither did I," Clementine says, still shocked by this sudden revelation. She looks at Violet, who also had a small grin on her face. Suddenly, she thinks of something that's actually pretty important. "Vi, do you like… eat meat? We haven't really got any side dishes or anything. Being at a boarding school and having to bargain for our food kind of removes that luxury."

"Are you serious, Clem? She inhaled those fuckin' nuggets like they were nothing," Mitch laughs as he takes out a few pieces of ribeye steak. 

Clementine glares at him. "I'm aware, but simply because she ate those nuggets just as quickly as Sophie would eat your dick doesn't mean I shouldn't make sure."

"Clem!" Sophie exclaims. 

"What? Don't tell me it's not true. I remember those 4AM truth or dare sessions, and I'm sure you do too."

"I get it, Clem!" Sophie shrieks. "You can stop now!"

"No, I don't think I will," the brunette grins, returning her attention to Violet. "Anyway, eating meat is fine, Vi?"

"Yeah, I like eating meat," she murmurs timidly. 

"I bet that that's not the only context where that phrase is relevant coming from you," Louis grins smugly, receiving a hit in the shoulder from Marlon. Violet instantly becomes flustered and starts at the ground. 

"Too far dude! You barely know her!" the blonde boy says. 

"Oh, when _I_ say something like that to her it's bad, but when Clem does it, it's fine?"

Mitch's voice calls out from inside the train station, where he's seasoning the steaks. "Maybe it's because you're a fuckin' 6'3 black dude while Clem's a short, little girl?" 

"I AM _NOT_ SHORT!"

"Yes, you are."

"And why's my skin color relevant?"

"Never said it was. You're just a fuckin' 6'3 black dude."

"Hey! I'll have you know that I gradua--"

"BOYS AND GIRL! Shut the freak up!" Brody exclaims as she slams her fists on the ground. "Sometimes I really freaking wonder how this group functions as a friend group if I have to make sure y'all don't kill each other every two minutes!"

It remains silent for a few seconds, but eventually Clementine shrugs. "It's all in good fun."

"Hm, I bet. For some reason I really doubt that," Brody sighs, putting her face into her palms. "Let's continue, I can't stand listening to all this arguing any longer."

Everyone shrugs in unison and Louis lets the stack of cards go around the circle again. When Clementine pulls her card, she immediately groans, realizing it's a two of spades. 

"Looks like our new friend Violet won," Louis says, collecting everyone's cards again and placing them at the bottom of the stack. "And Clemmy Cloo loses. Ask away, Violet!"

The blonde ponders for a moment. Her previous question had perhaps been a little bit too… innocent? While she wasn't really the type of person to ask any insanely personal or very sexual questions, she could maybe give it a try?

"So… Clem. How, uh, how did you get so good at playing the piano? I swear you're like an android or something because of how good you are," Violet nervously chuckles. 

_Fuck, almost._

"An android?" the brunette laughs. "Not even in an alternate reality would I be an android. It's all hard work, and perhaps a little bit of talent."

"I could totally see it though," Louis adds to the conversation. "Violet living life and suddenly a Clembot just appears on her doorstep, ready to serve her on command. It'd be one hell of a love story."

"Right… a _love_ story," Clementine snickers. "Not in a million years, dreadhead."

For some reason those words sting Violet like a harpoon, causing her to choke on her own spit and start coughing violently. 

_What the fuck is wrong with me? What's happening?_

She feels someone lightly pat on her back a few times until the coughing stops, and then it's replaced with soft rubbing. 

"You okay, Vi?" the voice of the girl helping her asks. 

The blonde immediately blushes and starts stuttering and stumbling over her words. "Y-Yeah, I'm f-fine. Th-thanks, Clem."

"Good. I don't want you to die on me now," Clementine jokes, getting a shy chuckle out of Violet. 

"Clem, I find it hard to believe that there's not something _more_ going on here, if you understand what I'm gettin' at?" Louis grins as he watches Clementine rub soothing circles on the blind girl's back. The brunette immediately glares at him. 

"Louis, piss off. Go suck James' dick or something," she retorts. 

"At least I'm not denying that I'm into him, while you are most certainly denying that you have a thing for our dear Violet over here."

Clementine stops rubbing Violet's back, but continues glaring at the tall boy. "Louis, I'd love to agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong."

"Point taken," Louis says as he raises his hands in defeat. He wasn't buying his best friend's talks in _the slightest_ , though. He'd known her long enough to realize that there was _something_ going on here. And he for sure as hell noticed Violet's pouting when Clementine said all of that. 

"The food's ready to be grilled, fuckers!" Mitch yells as he exits the train station, carrying a plate with a huge stack of different types of meat on it. 

As the meat sizzles on the grill, the kids move a bunch of logs and old barrels to be positioned around the campfire, creating a makeshift dinner area. Mitch turns the food once every few minutes, aiming for the steaks and burgers to become medium-rare. While some others liked their stuff well-done, Clementine would throw a huge tantrum whenever any meat was in her opinion 'overcooked.'

"I still don't get why I can't just have my burger well-done," Louis grumbles as he takes a bite of his now medium-rare one. 

"Because well-done is fucking stupid! The cow is already dead, you don't have to kill it twice!" Clementine retorts, glaring at the boy as she chomps down on her own. 

"But, I--"

"No buts! Cooking shit well-done ruins the entire thing. I gets rid of all the juicy goodness and removes the tenderness of the meat," Clementine instantly interrupts, not even giving her best friend a chance to get an argument in. 

"Fine," Louis grumbles in defeat.

As the night grows quiet and the moon starts to rise, the chattering and laughing of the kids around the campfire is the only noise to fill the air in the dark forest. They had finished eating a long while ago, but because some individuals had plenty of alcohol, the mood wasn't about to die down anytime soon. 

Violet feels weird in this new setting and friend group. Is weird the right word? She isn't really sure, but she is certain that she's never felt this way in her life ever before. While she might be the person to add the least things to all the conversing going on, she doesn't feel excluded in any way like she always did back 'home.' That's when it dawned on her. 

What used to be her 'home', isn't her home anymore. Her home is now here, among her new friends at the boarding school. Her dad for sure as hell made that clear when they sent her off to fend for herself. She wonders how her mom is doing back home, since she doubts that now that she's gone her dad's drinking, money and _other_ situation had cleared up at all. She was always blamed for everything that ever went wrong on her or her parents' life by her dad, and she had always believed that. And that's because he was right. He had to be, right? Why else would he say things like that?

But even with the way her dad threatened her about his… _difficult_ situation, she for some reason felt more obliged to be worried about her mom than herself. She always did seem to care about her daughter, if she was terrible at showing just that. She did work harder to be able to buy her Rosie, she did always go out of her way to make sure her dad didn't go _completely_ ballistic on her. But what for?

Violet still wound up being blind and being shipped off. But maybe that was for the best?

The people she met her were so nice and accepting. Even though this might be a boarding school for 'troubled youth', her friends did not seem to fit that description at all. Sure, Clementine might have a little bit of a temper and Mitch might blow shit up occasionally, but neither of them seemed to do that with any bad intentions. Clementine…

Violet doesn't know what it is that she feels around this girl, but she's different from the rest. Clementine just sends her heart racing and sends blood rushing into her cheeks. She wonders if she's just completely oblivious to what it means or if it just means nothing. She was never one to really trust her own feelings or opinions, as they were never valued or respected by anyone in the first place, not even by herself. Maybe she could ask Louis about it, or something?

"Vi, you okay? You spaced out there for a second, dude, " Clementine says as she placed her hand on the blonde's shoulder, immediately making her blush again. 

_See! There it is again…_

"I-uh… I'm fine. I just do that sometimes, I guess," Violet chuckles nervously. 

Clementine raises an eyebrow in amusement. "Okay then, bro. Anyway, we were just asking you how you're liking it here so far."

Violet's eyes widen. Does she like it here? She… thinks she does. It does all feel very foreign and confusing still, but she's pretty sure that she likes it. 

"I think so. It takes some getting used to, this being a totally new environment and all, but yeah, I think I like it here," Violet replies, nervously fidgeting her fingers. 

For some reason she always found herself sharing her honest thoughts and opinions with this group, something she'd never done with anyone ever before except her mother. Everyone else usually just shut her down and told her they 'didn't fucking care about what she has to say.'

"That's good!" Louis says. "I'm happy that you at least don't hate us."

"Ha, you don't have to worry about that," Violet smiles slightly. "There isn't many people that I truly hate."

"Dude, there's people you hate?" Clementine ponders out loud. "Who, bro?"

Violet's eyes immediately widen. She can't say _one word_ about it. Her dad will kill her. 

"I can't say, sorry," she mumbles. 

"Why not?" Mitch chimes in. 

"Drop it, now," Brody orders, noticing Violet's clear discomfort. 

"Duuude, you're such a buzzkill, Brody," Clementine says, her voice slurry from the amount of beer she's had. "Fuck it, I'm going to sleep," she adds groggily, getting up from her seat. 

All of the other kids shrug and get up as well, but Violet stays seated. 

"Louis, could you stay behind for a second?" she whispers to her right, knowing that that is where Louis was previously seated. 

"Sure," she hears as an answer. His voice sounds confused and he seems taken aback, but that doesn't surprise her. She picks up the sound of snapping twigs and leaves and feels a presence next to her, meaning that Louis had reseated himself next to her. 

"What's up? Are you doing to confess your undying love for me?" he jokes, making Violet's cheeks turn pink. 

"No, not exactly. It's about Clementine," Violet murmurs. While she can't see Louis, she can just tell that he probably has his eyebrows raised right now. 

"About Clementine? Look, I know she can come off as intriguing and a bit uninviting, but--"

"No, it's not that. It's more like… the exact opposite," Violet nervously admits. "I didn't give this feeling much thought because I figured it'd be irrelevant and unimportant, just like all my other feelings and emotions have always been. I just kind of hoped it'd go away at some point, but it's only becoming worse and I don't know what it is and what to do with it and I'm just scared and confused."

"Dude… you've got a crush on Clementine…"

"I… what do you--"

"Hey, slowpokes!" Clementine yells. "What are y'all waiting for, dude! We gotta get back to the school together, bro. I don't want any of us getting lost!"

Louis grins audibly and looks at Violet. "Think about what I said. We'll talk again later, okay?"

"O-Okay," Violet mutters, still astounded by the bomb Louis just dropped on her. She feels Louis grab her arm and drag her up on her feet. He hands her her cane as she hears Rosie getting up from the ground as well. While Violet was still trying to process what Louis had told her, they walked into the dark forest, following Clementine who was loudly singing the lyrics to _The Power of Love_ by Huey Lewis in her drunken state. 

_Am… Am I really crushing on Clementine?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	10. Chapter 10

_ Dude, class can literally eat my ass.  _

Clementine groans into her hands, her head aching from the hangover she got after last night. Is it her own fault? Definitely, but that doesn't stop her from being incredibly annoyed at the throbbing headache that just won't take it's fat ass elsewhere.

Hesitantly, she takes her head off her hands and raises it, the throbbing in her head immediately increasing as she does so. She moans in agony as she looks around the classroom, seeing Louis working together on something with James on their new art project that they started together. To her left, Violet was being helped by Luke with something and Sophie was being her usual self, drawing an absolutely beautiful picture of a blue butterfly. 

_ That butterfly… I feel like I recognize that from somewhere.  _

Shrugging aside her thoughts, Clementine looks at the blank piece of paper in front of her that she had planned to draw something on, but had ultimately given up on when her headache hit her even harder than it had done earlier that morning. 

"Come on, Clem! Turn that frown upside down, at least you'll get to see your favorite teacher again today!" Sophie says, looking up from her highly detailed drawing as she does so. 

"I swear to God, Louis is rubbing off on you. And  _ no _ , that is  _ not  _ a good thing," Clementine complains, but she fails to hold in her smile when she processed what Sophie said. "But yeah, I am glad that I get to see him again."

Sophie smiles softly when she sees the soft part of her best friend come out. It's very rare that it does, seeing as Clementine's exterior is usually very hardened, but when it does she savors every moment. She wonders why Clementine can't just be like that at all times. But then again, that'd mean the brunette would lose what made her so special, but most importantly, herself.

"Not just that, but PE is finally starting up after last week cancellations. It makes sense though. The weather was way too hot to do any sports in, I bet you'd have even fainted at some point," Sophie says as she continues adding small lines and details to her picture. 

"Actually, I went on my usual run that day. And I also did fifty pushups and pullups in my room after school. So, I beg to differ," Clementine grins, knowing that Sophie has always been jealous of her athletic skills. While the redhead was  _ far  _ from out of shape or overweight, she'd never been very skilled at any sport and she didn't work out either. She's somewhat decent at soccer though. But none of that mattered, her drawing practically compensated for all that she 'lacked.' 

"It's not my fault my legs are so much more stiff than yours," Sophie defends, looking at Clementine defiantly. 

"Stiff, huh? I bet Mitch would be able to crank them open for you and make them feel all soft."

Sophie’s eyes widen and her whole body stiffens at Clementine’s remark as she lowers her head back down to her drawing in defeat, already feeling a blush creep up the back of her neck. Suddenly becoming quite invested in her drawing once again, she fails to spot Clementine’s cocky smirk knowing she was able to bring their conversation to a quick standstill. 

Just as the brunette was about to open her mouth to continue teasing her friend about her “not-so-secret” crush, the familiar shrill tones of the bell started to ring out, signaling the end of their current period.

Luke pats Violet on the shoulder and compliments her efforts as he stands to address the rest of the class. “Alright guys and girls! Great job today, seriously. Leave your work on your desk and I’ll put them away, we’ll pick it back up at the same time tomorrow. Later everyone!”

The class fills with a choir of “Goodbye” and “Later Luke” as the students pack up and rush into the hallways to their next class. Since James and Louis had Marine Biology next period, they said their goodbyes to the girls and went their own way deeper into the school. Sophie and Clementine, however wait at the doorway for Violet and make their journey upstairs to their next class: History.

Clementine couldn’t hide the growing smile on her face the entire time they were walking towards her favorite teacher’s classroom. The teacher himself was very personable and always found a way to make the shitty and boring history lessons exciting somehow. 

“I’m telling you Violet, you’ll LOVE our history teacher! He’s one of the few people in this school that actively seems to care about every student that comes into his class. Not to mention, he’s like the ONLY authority figure that Clem hasn’t tried to annoy or piss off in some way.” Sophie explains to the blonde next to her, not surprised in the slightest when Violet looks towards her voice in shock at Sophie's last remark.

“Wait, seriously? You’re telling me the person who spits in people’s coffee and explodes on people who chew gum too loudly has a  _ soft spot _ for a teacher? Do you like his class that much, Clem?” Violet asks incredulously, feeling her cane tap the last stair as they finally make it up to the second floor. Relying on Sophie’s hand to guide her through the seemingly endless sea of students she wondered what the teacher looked and sounded like. But more specifically, Violet wondered what kind of person this teacher was if they were able to handle Clementine’s outbursts and rude behavior.

Clementine scoffs at Violet’s assumption, bringing her out of her deepening thoughts. “It’s not the class I like, Vi, it’s the teacher himself. History blows the big one, like seriously, why the fuck do we have to learn about the past when it’s not like we’ll be stupid enough to do it again? I doubt our asses will be building pyramids any time soon.” 

Violet nods her head in slight agreement, she’d be lying if she said History was her favorite subject, but she still believed it was a lot better than some other classes she’s had in the past. Like how one school put her in a culinary class for a period...you can imagine the dangers and fear she had every day when she entered THAT hellhole.

“What makes this guy so special then, Clem?” Violet chimes in, unknowing that they arrived at their class a little earlier than anticipated.

“Well for starters, I’m pretty sure I’m the only teacher she’s apologized to for trying to rile me up,” a deep voice suddenly interjects with a chuckle. Violet jumps slightly at the voice and turns to her right, towards the source, raising her head up a bit to match where the voice resonated from.

Clementine’s smile grows from ear to ear when she sees the sharp dressed, dark skinned man in front of her. Taking in the familiar sleek black suit accentuated with his favorite blue button up. The older man’s brown eyes sparkle with joy when Clementine bounds towards him and gives him a quick but meaningful side hug.

“Hey Lee! You  _ finally _ decided to show up, huh? Where the Hell have you been?” The brunette asks while pulling away from their embrace.

“For your information, Clementine, I was still on my cruise around Scandinavia with Carley, it wasn’t exactly cheap so there was no way I was going to end it early. Besides, I had to give my favorite student time to miss my lessons,” Lee explains with a wry smirk playing on his lips before remembering the new student next to him. “And this lovely lady must be Violet right?” 

Violet nods quickly at the man known as Lee, taking in his booming yet somehow soft voice, the smell of his cologne, and the sandpaper type scratching when rubbing his face at Clementines interrogation. Everything about this man made Violet want to trust him instantly, but she’s felt that way before and had paid for it, so for now she decided to remain guarded.

“Nice to meet you, Violet. My name is Mr. Everett and I teach your History class. We’re usually focused on American History but we jump around the planet every few chapters so you can get a little bit of everything from my class,” Lee says with a smile before noticing the look on the blind girl’s face. “Is there something on your mind Ms. Adlon?”

“Uh...why did Clem call you  _ ‘ _ Lee’ if your last name is ‘Everett’?” Violet asks bluntly. Clementine, Sophie and Lee all share a knowing look before the man speaks up while side-eyeing the brunette next to her.

“Oh right, let’s just say it was her prize for actually owning up to her mistake of trying to mess with me last year, meaning she's won my respect. But don’t get too comfortable with the name just yet, Ms. Adlon. Only Clem has the privilege of calling me that, for now at least,” he finishes with a wink towards Clementine, who shoves him lightly in response. 

“Well, enough of our catch up, class starts in about a minute so you all should go find your seats. Ms. Leigh, if it’s not too much trouble, would you mind seating yourself next to Clementine so you can keep her in line while I teach?” Lee asks innocently, earning him a glare and a middle finger from the shorter girl.

“You can count on me, sir!” Sophie says with a mock salute, which Lee returns with fervor.

“I don’t need a damn babysitter, Lee!” Clementine pouts, folding her arms across her chest.

“Maybe not, Clem, but someone has to make sure you don’t yell at Violet for being too ‘in your way’ since she’s going to be sitting in front of you.” Lee says, smiling ever so slightly at the memory of the same thing happening last year.

“That wasn’t my fault! You stuck a damn yeti in front of me! I couldn’t see anything!” Clementine shouts while throwing her hands up in frustration. 

“Maybe if you weren’t so short that wouldn’t have been a problem…” Sophie says while giggling softly.

“FOR THE LAST TIME, I AM NOT SHORT!” The brunette stamps her foot to a chorus of chuckles and giggles from the three people around her. Shaking her head and adjusting the hat on her head, she makes her way into the classroom.

Clementine plops down into a desk near the window and looks around the familiar classroom. There are maps all around the room from different eras and areas around the globe, from America to the ancient maps of the Inca empire...whatever that was. Lee’s desk is cluttered with scattered papers and a notebook of lesson plans strewn about haphazardly around the giant oak desk. Right next to his computer is a picture from his wedding day. It showed Lee standing next to a woman, who must have been Carley, in a wedding dress. Her brunette hair was shoulder length but was pinned back with barrettes to keep it from flowing freely in her face. In between the two of them is a child she’s grown to love since coming to Ericson’s, AJ Everett.

Lee and Carley had AJ about six years ago while they were dating. Due to Carley’s hectic schedule as a news reporter and Lee’s school schedule, it took them longer than necessary to finally tie the knot, which Clementine was so happy that they had. AJ came to Ericson’s every Saturday to come watch Louis and her during their piano concerts, always looking dazed and in a trance as the music washed over him. At first glance AJ seems like just another troubled kid, from acting out in classes to biting other students. But to Clementine, he was the coolest little goofball she’s ever met. He would always come up to her after her performance and high-five her, telling her how great she was. Seeing AJ in the music room every Saturday brightened her day just from the way he would perk up and wave at her. She would do anything for that afro headed toddler.

And that’s not something she would say she would do for just  _ anyone _ .

Clementine's thoughts quickly shift to the blonde who had taken the seat in front of her. The bright side about this arrangement is that Clementine could see past Violet with no issue, so there wasn't any need to snap at her if needed. Although she wouldn't yell at Violet like that, not like before where she was an asshole to her. She doesn't want to see her sad because of her ever again.

_ Woah...where the hell did  _ that _ come from? _

Clementine shakes her head of the cobwebs encasing her thoughts just as Lee began to take role. Since it was his first day back, she doubted he would do anything too terrible to the class. Lee had an intimidating presence to most, but Clementine knew that he was just a big teddy bear at heart. It's one of the reasons she respected him so much, he's always striving for group success and doesn't take shit from anyone! Mad props to Lee for keeping it real in such a fake ass society full of two-faced cowards and snakes.

_ Fuck yeah, Lee. _

Time flies by rather quickly once the bell rings. Lee had introduced himself to the new students and gave the usual spiel of how his class runs and what he’s about. As much as she liked his class and hearing Lee speak, Clementine couldn’t stay focused, opting instead on daydreaming while staring at the girl in front of her. Violet and her have become pretty good friends, Clementine would say, but she couldn’t figure out why the hell Louis was so damn adamant on teasing her about a stupid crush. She was just being nice and a little protective of her new friend, is that a crime now? As far as the brunette was concerned, nothing she was doing was  _ too  _ out of the ordinary for her.

_ So why the fuck do I only get that way around her? _

“Clem? CLEM!” A voice shouts in her ear, awaking Clementine from her journey through her mind.

“FUCK A DUCK!” Clementine shrieks, jumping in her seat to the airy laugh of Violet next to her and the hysterics of Sophie in front of her. “What the hell was THAT for, Soph?” the shorter girl growls out while rubbing her temples from the headache that had instantly intensified tenfold after the redhead’s reality check of a greeting.

“I-I’m sorry, but it was too easy!” Sophie breathes out, wiping a stray tear from her eye from how hard she was laughing, much to Clementine’s chagrin. “You were staring off into space since class started, I was beginning to think your brain short-circuited or something.”

“Well the next time you do that to me it’ll be YOUR BRAIN TH-” Clementine begins, standing up and slinging her bag over her shoulder, only stopping because a certain cute service dog started barking, catching her off guard. She turns to see Violet with an annoyed expression on her face, tapping her cane against the wall to alleviate some of the boredom that has accumulated over this whole exchange.

“Thank you, Rosie.” Violet says softly, affectionately patting the dog’s head. “Now that your argument is done, can we PLEASE start heading to PE now?” Violet asks not even opting to stop petting Rosie as she loved the soft sensations tickle her fingers and palm when they glided through the dog’s fur.

Clementine was about to say something, but the look that those green eyes gave her shut her down real quick. “Yeah sure, let’s get to the field already.” she says nonchalantly, making her way to the door, being followed in quick succession by the other two girls. Making their way to the sports field quickly, hoping that they wouldn’t be late due to Clem’s absentmindedness.

Stepping outside, the three girls feel the wave of heat hit them instantly, it was by no means as hot as it was last week, but the sweltering heat was a very hot reminder that summer was still on its last legs, and wasn’t going to go without a fight. Clementine adjusts the brim of her hat and trudges along the dirt path that led to the back of the school. The large and plentiful trees offering as much shade as they could from the sun’s rays on their backs. 

The sports field was a big open area in the back of the school, It had a large track encasing a part of the open field, along with an equipment shed holding all kinds of supplies for different sports like flag football, softball, volleyball, and Clementine’s personal favorite sport, soccer. Their old PE teacher left the state to pursue a career as a sports broadcaster, which means they had to gauge an entirely new person for their hour of exercise. Usually the coach would just take attendance and let the kids do whatever the hell they wanted for that hour, as long as nothing was set on fire or public property was destroyed, everything was fair game. The brunette hoped the new teacher was at least more involved with the sports they attempted to play, she was tired of lazy ass people getting in her way when she’s trying to get a damn goal in soccer.

As the group rounded the corner of the school, they were surprised to see a younger looking man in the middle of the field, taking a few practice swings with a metal bat at nothing. Eyeing the unknown man suspiciously, Clementine’s eyes widen a bit in realization once she recognizes the number '34' on the back of his worn jersey. 

“Holy fuck! There’s no fucking way thats actually him _ …” _ Clementine gasps in amazement, earning looks from Sophie and Violet both.

“You know who that guy is, Clem?” Sophie asks, her eyebrow raised at the man with his back to them. 

“Of course! That’s Javier Garcia! He used to play for the Georgia ‘Stars and Clouds’!” The shorter girl beams at Sophie, wondering why she wasn’t as pumped as she was at this discovery.

Violet who had been enjoying the calmness of the breeze and whistling of the leaves up until this point looks at Clementine. “Who’s Javier Garcia and why is he such a big deal, Clem?”

Just then, all three girls heard a hearty laugh from the man in front of them. Turning towards the girls, they could see the scruff on his face, the faded scar above his right eyebrow, and his short brown hair. His brown eyes were that of a teenager that just got their first car and was itching to take a test drive. 

“Well, she could tell you all about me, I suppose. Or, I could tell you the super awesome story that is ‘Javier Garcia’ if you want? Cool dog by the way.” He smiles kindly, swinging the bat up to his shoulder with a quick flourish.

“So it really IS you! I’m such a huge fan of yours!” Clementine shouts, shaking his hand tightly.

“Hey, I’m glad at least  _ someone _ still likes me.” Javier jokes, returning the handshake with just as much enthusiasm

“So...what’s your story then?” Violet questions towards the voice.

“I was going to wait until the rest of the students were here, but since you asked so kindly...where to start?” Javier rubs his chin in deep thought before looking back to the group with a wink. “I guess my name will do.”

“The name’s Javier Garcia, but my friends call me Javi so you can call me that. As your friend here said, I used to play for the Georgia ‘Stars and Clouds’ and I’d say I was pretty good at it. But, I ran into some bad luck and it made my career go belly up.” Javi tightens his grip on the bat in remembrance before his smile returns. “Anyways, after that, I went in a bad spiral for a bit, couch hopping and the usual stuff. I was doing that until I met Jesus...his real name is Paul but he tells people to call him that. He turned my life around in ways I didn’t even know I could get back. We moved out here and I got a job at a Troubled Youth school, kinda fitting don’t you think?” Javi laughs softly at the irony of his own situation.

“What was so bad that your career ended as a pro player?” Sophie asks. 

“I was sort of a big gambler back in the day, even going so far as to bet on my own games. Which by the way, huge ‘no-no’ in our industry. I got caught and got the shaft not even a day later.” The man answers calmly, as if he was expecting that question to arise sooner rather than later.

“But enough about that sad stuff, what matters now is that I am officially your new coach and PE teacher, so just promise not to get ‘too’ starstruck and we’ll get along just fine!” he finishes before pointing the bat at Violet. “You there, what’s your name?”

Violet remains motionless for a few moments before turning to her right. “Clem, who’s he talking to?” 

Clementine bursts out in laughter before answering. “He was talking to you, Vi.” causing the blonde to redden in embarrassment. Seeing this, Clementine looks at her new coach while motioning to Violet.

“This is Violet, she’s new to the school and is blinder than a bat... like the animal, not the thing on your shoulder, obviously.” Clementine explains.

Javier nods his head in understanding before Sophie and Clementine introduce themselves as well. The three teens and new teacher spent a couple minutes talking about the new year, the different sports teams they could join, and what Javier has planned for everyone in hopes of being a better teacher than the last coach that left.

As the plethora of students begin to emerge from the school and rush the field, the bell sounds and the girls eagerly await for what’s in store for their first PE class of the new year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	11. Chapter 11

Once every student had successfully changed into their black and olive green PE uniforms, they gathered back down to the plate in the middle of the field, where Javier was standing and tossing a big red rubber ball in the air and catching it with one hand. The older man not even batting an eye as he watched everyone rush the field, curious to see what his first year as a coach had in store for him to begin the hopeful new year.

“Well, I’m happy and quite frankly a little shocked that you all decided to actually come back,” Javier spoke wittily, earning a few snickers from the decently sized crowd around him, “As I’ve told a few of you earlier, my name is Javier Garcia and I’ll be your new coach for this year!” he announced dramatically, puffing his chest out like an action hero to the applause of some of the students, Clementine whooping and clapping the loudest out of the bunch. “And as your new coach, I thought it’d be a good idea to start the year off right with the most classic and gritty of all the school sports known to mankind-” before he finished his sentence, the former pro player threw the ball into the air once again, bouncing it off of his knee and his head before catching it in his hands once more, holding it out with a gleeful look in his eyes. “We are playing… kickball.”

The game of choice ignited everyone's competitive spirit and fire to win. Of course, Clementine was a competitive person by nature, but just knowing this was her first chance to impress one of her heroes only added fuel to her already raging inferno and desire. Sophie rolled her eyes with a playful smile upon catching Clementine bouncing on her heels in utter anticipation for the teams to be announced. Violet however remained stoic in her expression, feeling utterly confused as to why she was even in this class to begin with. Kickball wasn’t exactly the safest sport for the blonde to play with her blindness...then again,  _ none of them _ were ideal for her to try and play.

Seeing the girl’s features contort into a look of bewilderment, Javier quickly came up with a plan of his own. “So, now it’s time to talk teams!” the darker skinned man said, clapping his hands once to get the spotlight back on him. “Just judging from the fire in everyone’s eyes here, I think I can make a pretty sound judgement for team captains. With that being said…” Javier extended his hand and pointed at Clementine and then at another short, close cropped brunette by the name of Trent. “You two are my team captains!” Javier finished with a smile.

Hearing this, Clementine pumped her fist into the air, already knowing who she wanted on her team within the first twenty seconds of looking around. 

_ Well, obviously Sophie better be on my damn team! If Trent thinks for one second that he’s grabbing my right-hand man, I will personally design a machine that will tumble his body down an eternal flight of carpeted stairs so he dies from carpet burns and broken limbs. _

Clementine inched closer to Sophie and Violet’s side, staring daggers at the taller brunette captain as a silent warning to the boy, much to the confusion of the redhead that she had just bumped shoulders with.

“Is everything alright, Clem? You have that look again,” Sophie whispered, leaning down slightly to avoid any unwanted ears from eavesdropping on their secret conversation. Before Clementine could open her mouth however, they were surprised to hear another voice chimed in suddenly from their right side in an equally audible whisper.

“What look are you talking about, Soph?” Violet asked quietly, unknowingly shocking the two girls with her enhanced hearing capabilities. 

Sophie gives Clementine a knowing glance, silently asking for permission to tell Violet, smiling slightly when the shorter girl shrugged her shoulders in response. Grabbing Violet’s sleeve and tugging slightly to bring her closer, Sophie clears her throat in preparation. 

“Okay, so-” 

“Yo! We’re about to get started over here! Come on, I’m not  _ that _ boring am I?” Javier shouted from downfield, making the three girls jump in surprise, standing straight up to address the voice.

“N-no sir! We’re on our way!” Sophie quickly apologized, hoping to smooth over any trouble they may have been in. Her confidence dropping once she saw the older man’s smirk drop and his face become the very definition of crestfallen.

“Oh man...you just called me ‘sir’. I can’t believe it, I guess I really AM that boring!” Javier dropped to his knees while clutching at his wounded heart to the chorus of laughter around, including the three girls who were slowly making their way to the group, Violet holding onto Clementine’s shirt as her guide. 

The entire walk over, Violet could feel her face growing more and more red with each passing second of holding onto Clementine. She couldn’t see the brunette’s expression, but judging from the lack of pushing her away or telling Sophie to grab her, Violet could only assume that Clementine didn’t mind the sudden responsibility, or more importantly, her touch. Which not only made her heart flutter, but made her even more curious as to what Clementine was feeling for her. All of her thoughts were making her head spin, she wanted desperately to ask the brunette directly, but it wasn’t the right time. Violet wanted it to be special, something that was just between the two of them without any unforeseen disruptions or distractions messing her up.

_ Maybe I could tell her sometime tonight? She's always blunt and straightforward with me, maybe she'll appreciate it if I do the same? _

Violet was pulled away from her thoughts at the sound of a shrill whistle blow cutting through the peaceful quiet of the cooling end-of-summer day. She reluctantly removed her hand from Clementine’s shirt, dropping it to her side feeling slightly disappointed at the lack of contact. 

“Okay, now that our other team captain is here, it’s time to pick teams!” Javier exclaimed cheerily, standing up and pointing at the pentagonal white base behind him. “Everyone line up over here so Clementine and Trent can choose who they want on their teams.” As the class hurriedly made their way to the base, Violet froze at the feeling of a sudden strong hand placing itself on her shoulder, her blood running cold and her brain ceasing to function.

_ What the hell? Please don’t be here. Please don’t be here. What are you doing here? Don’t hurt me. Please don’t hurt me! _

“Oh crap, I didn’t mean to scare you!” Javier said worriedly, removing his hand quickly from the blonde’s shoulder, who lets out a sigh of relief as her panic slowly subsides when she realizes it was only her coach and not her father, also lovingly known as the person who had ruined her life all those years ago.

Clementine, who had been watching from her designated spot, is staring intently at the situation with determination and concern in her eyes, her hands balled into fists at her side. Sure, she liked Javier as a baseball player and as her coach, but it didn’t matter if it was him or her own parents that did it. If anyone hurt Violet, they’d be dealing with her immediately.

Violet continued to take slow, deep breaths in an attempt to slow her rapid heartbeat, noting in the back of her mind that the older man has yet to move away or try to comfort her, which Violet appreciated. It wasn’t like Violet didn’t need comforting, but for attacks like this it was often better to just calm herself down rather than an inexperienced person fuss and freak out while trying to ‘help’. With one final deep breath, Violet turned her head towards the presence with a thumbs up and a meek smile.

“S-sorry about the freak out, coach. I’ve just been through some things a-and you kind of… came out of nowhere,” Violet said, scratching her left arm nervously.

Javier stood silent for a few moments, looking at the blonde in front of him in wonder. “You have no reason to apologise, so don’t even try it. It was my fault, I forgot about your condition and I was the one that snuck up on you. I hope you can forgive me, I’ll try to be more careful next time,” the man said, rubbing his hand across his scruffy face. “I actually came over to talk to you while everyone else was busy with their teams.”

Violet raised an eyebrow at both the man’s apology and his sudden want to talk to her. None of her teachers, besides Luke, had ever pulled her aside or made an active attempt to make sure she didn’t feel awkward answering questions in front of others. Not only that, but Javi didn’t blame her for having a panic attack, which was few and far between for the blonde. Everyone always assumed she was weak for having those problems and episodes but Javier seemed to understand what she was going through.

_ Maybe it’s because he’s had a troubled life too? Clem was right, Javier Garcia is one interesting guy. _

Clearing his throat, Javier leaned a little closer to Violet so he could lower his voice, just in case any student was feeling nosy. Violet could smell the grass stains on his clothes and his cologne that he put on this morning to battle the summer air smells.

“I’m going to be honest here, I’m not sure why they put you in this class with your condition,” Javier whispered bluntly, a small frown making its way onto the green eyed girl’s lips. She suddenly became very aware of the fact that she didn’t have a place in this class at all. And secretly, she was worried that Javier would kick her out of the class and away from Sophie and Clementine because of it. She was pulled out of her worries quickly when she heard the older man give a little chuckle.

“What’s with the long face? I’m not changing your schedule or anything. That’d be pretty shitty of me, plus I’m pretty sure your friend Clementine would beat me with my own bat if I ever tried anything like that too.” Javier and Violet both let out a laugh at that thought, removing the previous tension they had in an instant.

“What I wanted to do, was invite you to be my partner in crime during class!” Javier whispered excitedly. Violet eyed the voice curiously, not entirely sure what it was that the man in front of her was proposing. However, if it was a way for her to stay in the class with her friends, she’d be willing to do it in a heartbeat.

“What would I have to do?” Violet asked, a small grin playing at her lips, the act allowing Javier to breathe a sigh of relief knowing that they were on equal footing once more. The last thing either of them wanted was to feel awkward around each other, especially if they were to see each other every day.

“So basically all you wou-” Javi began, stopping mid-sentence at the excited yet annoyed voice shouting from a far distance.

“HEY JAVI! OUR TEAMS ARE PICKED AND MINE IS LOOKING DAMN GOOD COMPARED TO TRENTS! WHAT’S NEXT?” Clementine shouted, the bright red kickball in her hands and Trent staring daggers at the girl next to him, eager to show her up in a sport for once.

“Please excuse me for one moment, Violet,” Javier said in a fake posh voice as he turned on his heels and cups his hands around his mouth. “WHAT’S NEXT? THAT’S EASY! IT’S GAME TIME! CLEMENTINE, YOUR TEAM IS UP TO BAT FIRST! EVERYONE FIGURE OUT YOUR POSITIONS AND FIRST TO SEVEN POINTS IS THE WINNER!” Hearing the cheers from the kids, the man smiled brightly and turns back towards the amused blonde.

“Basically Violet, you’ll be my teacher’s assistant during this period. All you’d be doing is standing by me for the period and helping me coach your friends and classmates.Of course, if you don’t feel comfortable with that, I completely understand and we can go change your schedule after class and give you another period of art or something.” The man gingerly put a hand on Violet’s shoulder, surprised to see that she didn’t flinch or freeze like before. “But take it from me, I’ve seen the looks your two friends have been giving me since coming over here, and for the safety of my beautiful face, I think you should stay,” he finished, only slightly joking about the looks Sophie and Clementine have been exchanging with him throughout this entire conversation.

The blonde pretended to think about the decision for a moment, of course she wanted to stay in the class with Sophie and Clementine, and it wasn’t like Javier was the weirdest or creepiest teacher in the entire school. She was just ecstatic that the two of them could come to an agreement about her predicament. 

Violet extended her hand, jutting it forward and hitting the hard surface of what she assumed was Javier’s chest before retracting it slightly in embarrassment. “Sorry… I’d definitely like to stay in the class if you’ll let someone like me be your assistant.” 

Letting out a hearty laugh, Javier took Violet’s hand into his own and shakes it. “Not only will I let you, but it’d be my honor to have such a dope assistant, plus your dog is a big bonus,” the man stated, his smile widening when Rosie barked in agreement, “Well then, let’s head up to the kids. Looks like the game is starting.”

Grabbing a handful of his jersey, Violet followed behind Javi to what she assumed was the outskirts of the field, away from any stray kickballs that may be flung their way. Even if there were, Violet trusted Javier enough to know that he would prevent her from getting hurt in any way. And with the shrill sound of Javier’s whistle, the game had begun.

The air was intense with the spirit of competition filling it’s space. As the intense heat continued to beat down on their backs, each team refused to give the other any ounce of an edge. They matched each other tit for tat, run for run, out for out, with both team captains planning their strategy to best the other to no avail.

Through the entire game, Violet was entranced by the varied shouts and screams of the students, the constant low pitched sounds of the ball getting kicked, and the whistling of the breeze in her ears in the moments of intense silence and concentration. She also couldn’t help but notice the older man’s comments next to her as he mumbled them under his breath absentmindedly.

“Jeez that kick was something.” “How did she manage to get two outs that quickly?” “She may be small but that pitch was incredible!” 

"I HEARD THAT! I'M NOT FUCKING SHORT!"

"...whoops."

It was like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, and Violet could  _ definitely _ tell who he was referring to. It made her wonder how Clementine was catching his eye and how she was doing so well in the first place, especially in this blazing heat. Violet felt herself sweating just by standing in the sun, she couldn’t imagine running around in this heat. And judging from Javi’s comments, she damn sure didn’t want to if she had to go against Clementine, who was apparently single handedly dominating the field.

“Hey, Violet. Your friend is something else, you know that?” Javier suddenly said, Violet directing her attention towards his voice.

“Um...which one do you mean? They’re both great in their own ways. Although, I’m pretty sure they both love this kind of thing,” Violet explains, confused as to why he would bring up Sophie or Clementine suddenly.

“I can certainly tell! Sophie has had some great runs, but Clementine has been crushing this game!” Javier exclaimed, “I mean, she’s been pitching some great outs, getting near perfect home runs, and even managed to get some super quick outs. It barely looks like she’s even winded out there! And she’s up to kick next, it could all end right here,” he finished, arms crossed and eyes focused on the brunette in anticipation for her next move.

Violet’s heart rate quickened at the man’s compliments of Clementine. She knew that Clementine was a great athlete, but to be so good as to get the attention of a former pro player was something entirely different. Once she put the name to the star player, it suddenly made a lot more sense. Clementine is all about her fitness, she had even overheard her say she went on long runs during the heatwave like it was nothing. She was truly incredible in Violet’s eyes. Her mind snapping back to reality at Javier’s shrill whistle cutting through the air again, her face a light shade of red from thinking about Clementine for so long.

“THAT’S GAME! SEVEN TO SIX, TEAM CLEMENTINE WINS! GREAT JOB EVERYONE!” Javier announced, earning a chorus of cheers and whoops from most of the students, Clementine exclaiming the loudest as she ran up to the blonde excitedly.

“Vi! We totally kicked their asses! I knew that Trent’s team had a cicada’s chance in a blender compared to mine!” The brunette cheered, high-fiving Javi before wrapping an arm around Violet’s shoulders in a brief side hug that sent the blonde’s head spinning.

“Clem, get the heck off of her will you? You’re all gross and sweaty.” Sophie huffed out breathlessly. “Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you two this since class started,” Sophie suddenly remembers, “Did you two want to come over to my dorm for just a little hangout at around six? Y’know, one without Louis or Mitch and Marlon. Just a girl’s night.” 

“Oh you know, I’d love to go...but I have dinner plans with Jesus that I simply can’t pass up, so I’ll have to take a raincheck,” Javier said jokingly, causing all three girls to laugh at his antics. Waving his hand and saying his goodbyes, the girls make their way back to the dorms.

“So what do you guys say? Wanna come over?” Sophie asked again, a few beads of sweat cascading down her forehead as they continued under the shade.

Violet adjusted her grip on Clementine’s slick arm as she mulled over her decision. She was nervous to admit that she was unsure about going over to Sophie’s dorm. Even though they’ve had hangouts in the past, something about entering another person’s dorm and spending time there seemed like an invasion of their privacy.

“Sounds like a plan, Stan,” Clementine said nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders, “I just need to get in a shower and I’ll be ready to go. What about you, Vi?” 

Violet’s thoughts stopped in their tracks at Clementine saying her name. If she was going, it could be the perfect opportunity to let the abrasive girl know about her feelings. Taking a moment to compose herself, Violet nodded her head at the two girls in succession.

“Sure, sounds like fun. I’d love to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An extra long chapter for y'all! :)

As the day progressed, all of the girls kept getting more excited for the end of the day. It would be the first time they hung out with their group of female friends in its current shape. Clementine made her way from her last class to her room to get ready for later tonight. The hangout session was obviously not going to be one where fancy attire was required nor expected, so that was the only reason why she was going to her dorm in the first place; to change into something more comfortable. As she undressed, she started recalling some of the earlier events of the day. As she mused on, she realized that her and Violet are getting along really well, better than she ever had with anyone this quickly. She wondered why that would be the case. Maybe their similar taste in music? Maybe because they both really care about others? But it didn't feel as if it would be something with an answer as simple as that, there was something more to the blind girl that Clementine wasn't able to quite pinpoint. 

Grabbing some of her casual, loose fitting clothing from her bedside drawer, her glance fell onto the piano positioned underneath her guitars hanging from the wall. She let out a small sigh in frustration, recalling the events that happened a bit prior. She had been trying to learn a new piece but for some reason she just couldn't get it down pat. What made it frustrating, is that the short girl was certain that she had mastered pieces way more difficult than the one she was currently practicing: _Un Sospiro_ by Liszt. Clementine dressed into her grey hoodie and jogging pants and then walked over to her piano, lightly hitting it in frustration. _Damn you, Liszt. I_ will _master your arpeggio monster._

While the temptation to practice the piece for a little longer was most definitely appealing to the musician, she was already running late and she knew that if she didn't leave right then and there, Brody was most definitely going to give her shit for it. Not that Clementine really cared in the slightest, though, as she was more than used to Brody's admonishments that she got thrown at her head practically every day of the week. Clementine grinned as she recalled something Brody lashed out over earlier that day. Louis had been peacefully eating his sandwiches, until he got to the one that Clementine had put cantaloupe on when he wasn't looking. Whilst seemingly an innocent prank, Louis nearly threw up and Brody got _really_ pissed at Clementine. _Louis just shouldn't be such a weakling, it's not my fault that he forgoes anything that is mildly foreign to him. Especially since he's foreign himself._ Shaking her head free of thoughts, Clementine walked towards the door and swung it open in one, clear motion and stepped into the hallway. 

As the brunette crooned the lyrics to In This Light by Queensryche under her breath, she strode her way towards Sophie's room, where, by her calculations, she should've been around 25 minutes ago. _Pfff… who's gonna care? I'll just use my amazing Clementine charm on them and it'll be fine._ Since it was already late at night, the only sound that echoed through the mostly empty hallways of the dorms was Clementine's muffled footsteps on the old, dusty wooden floor that hadn't been cleaned since the start of the school year. This led to a bunch of cobwebs forming in the corners of the walls, and also for there to be litter everywhere. And as much of a neatfreak as Clementine might be, she didn't care what happened in the hallways, as long as her own room was free of rubbish. She passed the rooms of some other girls that she knew, but doesn't really ever talk to. That was one thing that bothered her to some extent, seeing as she really did want to be friends with a lot of people. It just was the case that not many people appreciate her blunt and honest nature, as it has always been the first thing that people noticed when they interacted with her in any way. 

Interim, Violet heard footsteps approaching the door of the room she currently found herself in. While the layout of the room remained completely unknown to her, she did know where the door was and also knew what the pattern Clementine's footsteps sound like, as that was one of the main things she has used to identify people walking up to her. Around her, Brody and Sophie were chatting, laughing and gossiping about whatever, but she wasn't really focused on that in the slightest. She felt nervous about Clementine's arrival after the talk she had with Louis after the barbeque they had prior to this evening. After ruminating for what to her felt like a myriad of hours, she concluded that what Louis said was most likely correct. Even if she hasn't know Clementine for a long time at all, she was pretty sure that there were indeed some feelings for the brunette starting to blossom. But, Violet is afraid of them. While she did have some experiences with girls, for some reason it felt different to her right now. It was as if Clementine truly appreciated her for who she is, and also wasn't afraid to immediately show her true self to Violet. Perhaps it was her carelessness about possibly being judged that the blonde found attractive, as it is a trait that she had desired for so long now. But she concluded that that was definitely not the only thing, the overall kindness, soothing words, energy and pure confidence that Clementine radiated at all times definitely played a role in her getting swept off her feet, too. While she obviously wasn't _in_ _love_ Clementine yet, it was very obvious the feelings Louis suggested she had, were indeed there. 

The musician that plagued Violet's mind reached the door and checked her pockets to see if she had forgotten to bring anything. _Probably should've done that when I was in my room_ . When she had thoroughly rummaged through both of her pockets, she confirmed that she indeed had everything she had intended to take with her: a stack of cards ( _which I stole from Louis. Thanks Louis_ ), her phone and charger, apparently a guitar pick, but most importantly, a bottle of Jack Daniels. It had taken her a while to finally fit the large bottle in the pocket of her jogging pants, but since it was _incredibly_ stretchy, she had managed to fit in there anyway. Clementine didn't bother knocking, and confidently threw the door open, heavily startling some of the girls inside, but mainly Brody. 

"Jesus, motherfreaker," the auburn-haired girl in question shrieked as the door slammed against the wall next to it. Sophie held her hand to her heart dramatically, which was something she always does whenever something as much as mildly startled her. While most of her friends thought that was the most hilarious thing in the world, she herself really hated it. Nobody really understood why, but she always did her best to avoid doing it. Violet remained unfazed by the massive blow of the door, as she had heard Clementine nearing the door long before the other two girls had, and based off Clementine's usual behavior, she had expected no less for the door be thrown open as aggressively as it did. And besides, back home it was normal for doors to be thrown shut that loudly. She experienced it at least five times a day during those years. _I am so glad all of that is over… Perhaps getting sent here really was for the best_ , Violet mused. 

"The most _amazing_ person in the school has arrived!" Clementine loudly announced, shaking her bottle of booze in her left hand as she balanced herself against the wall with her right. As she scanned the girls in the room, she took note of the mild look of discomfort on the faces of two of them. _I wonder why that is?_

"Maybe the loudest, blunt and most impulsive person," Sophie retorted somewhat angrily, "After doing that, you are _far_ from the most awesome person in this school. In fact, I think even Louis might be above you at this rate." The redhead simply didn't understand why Clementine always felt the need to mess with them in one way or another. She was always doing _something_ to agitate people, like scaring them, talking excessively loud when people asked her not to, or putting cantaloupe in people's sandwiches. _Okay, the latter_ was _kind of funny though_ , Sophie thought, grinning at the memory. Then her gaze fell back onto the brunette that had just made her loud arrival. 

Clementine glared at her, huffed and hid the bottle of booze behind her back. "Blowphie, perhaps you shouldn't be a meanie to the person who's providing the alcohol," she shot back, playfulness shimmering in her eyes. She was fully aware of the fact that the bullshit she constantly pulled never failed to piss people off, but it was all in good fun. The people that she continually harrassed were also cognizant of this, which helped them not really care as much as they would've otherwise. Her constant dumb jokes and pranks never took away that she in fact was a loving person who really cares about her friends. Then, the brunette's gaze fell on Violet after she uncomfortably shifted on top of Sophie's bed. The blonde appeared as if she was on edge about something. "Violet, is anything wrong?" Clementine asked, sitting down onto the bed next to her. The bed sunk in a few inches, which resulted in Violet grasping the sheets, as if afraid she was going to fall. 

The blonde clenched her jaw and bit down on her tongue, trying to suppress the emotions overtaking her. Violet knew that this moment was bound to happen, but that still didn't make it hurt her any less. "I'll be fine," she lied through gritted teeth. Her teeth gritted not in anger, but in trying to hide her uneven breathing and how her voice quivered. She shook her head slowly, attempting to free it of the memories that slowly started to flood her body before they reached the brim; her eyes. Suddenly, she felt a touch on her upper leg, which resulted in her tensing up for a few seconds, before releasing and allowing herself to become relaxed again. "It's just…" Violet started saying, experiencing difficulties in finding the right words to worm herself out of this, for her, poor circumstance. "A bad memory came up. I'll be fine, Clem. Really," she settled on, pleading to some force of nature that it would be enough for her crush to believe her. 

Clementine raised an eyebrow at the artist's conspicuous discomfort, but decided not to push it any further. Instead, she stood up from the bed and placed down her items in the middle of the small huddle of blankets and pillows that Sophie and Brody had built together. When she put all of the items in place ( _VERY thoroughly. I hate things not being neat when there's no reason for them not to be)_ , she turned back towards Violet and softly smiled at her, even if she realized that the blind girl wouldn't be able to see it. "Okay, I believe you. But, you can come to me if you ever need to talk or something. I'd understand why you wouldn't wanna do it to either of these two daft cunts," the musician ribbed, which earned a chuckle from the blonde who looked to be at least a little more comfortable than she was before. The brunette turned around and met Brody's gaze, who was glaring daggers at her. She grinned mischievously, knowing that the girl would usually have lashed out on her about both her language and her rudeness, but now she wouldn't since it had cheered up Violet, at least to some extent. 

Shrugging aside her concerns for Violet, Clementine strode towards the small blanket fort in the middle of the room and sat down cross-legged. She took hold of the bottle of booze and read the label really quickly. She hadn't ever gotten her hands on a bottle of Jack before, but by the looks of things, it wasn't a tenuous beverage in _the slightest_. And with Clementine being a lightweight, she already knew for sure that she was going to get drunk tonight. 

It has been a while since the girls hung out alone like this, and now with the new addition of Violet, Clementine knew that she was going to have a blast. While she was never necessarily very outgoing towards people she doesn't associate with, she completely crawled out of her shell and had the best time of her life when it was just her and her friends. And with the addition of alcohol that was illegally snuck onto the school grounds, as well as her _secret surprise_ , nothing was going to be able to let this night go to shit. _I mean, it_ could _go to shit, but then something very extreme has to happen. Like Minerva seducing Violet or some shit,_ Clementine thought, snorting as soon as this entered her mind. _Yeah, that's never going to happen, ever._

As if on cue, the door swung open once more, sounding similar to the entrance Clementine made just prior. In the door opening stood tall, a girl with red hair, a bunch of freckles and a snarky grin on her face. She stepped into the room confidently, and scrutinized everyone inside it as she slowly strode towards her bed. Clementine's blood reached boiling temperature within seconds, which Sophie took notice of. The artist immediately stood up from her bed and walked towards Clementine and sat down next to her, grabbing her arm and shaking her head 'no.' The brunette continued glaring at Minerva, cracking her knuckles to relieve some of the anger, and to keep herself busy with something to distract herself from the lofty redhead. Ostensibly, Minerva wasn't here to start any fight, as she simply walked towards her bedside drawer, grabbed something from it and then marched back towards the door. Then, she turned around. 

"Who's the eye candy?" she queried, gesturing her head towards Violet. Understandably, this pushed Clementine over the edge. She loudly gritted her teeth, which didn't go unnoticed by the cocky redhead. Minerva tauntingly wiggled her eyebrows at the brunette, pushing her buttons even farther. She knew exactly how to enrage Clementine, and to say she succeeded would be an understatement. 

"You do _not_ get to fucking talk to her like that. That 'eye candy' has a name, you limp dick unicorn," Clementine chided through her still gritted teeth. Trying to regain her usually relaxed composure, she took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes. "Minerva, I think you should go."

Minerva raised an eyebrow at Clementine's ability to hold in the conniption that she expected to take place, as the musician usually never cared enough to hold them in. "Really, Clementine? You're trying to send me out of _my_ room? I get to enter and leave whenever I fucking please." Minerva scoffed and removed and hand from the doorknob. She crossed her arms, leaning backwards against the door. "So… the eye candy has a name? And what would that be?" she asked Clementine, who was still fuming. 

The brunette looked towards Sophie and Brody, who were watching the scene unfold in front of them and not interrupting or helping Clementine in the slightest. She understood though, and wasn't about to get mad over that. Clementine was one of the few people that actually had the courage to stand up to Minerva and Sophie had always detested getting into fights with her sister, as the taller twin always held grudges for forever. And then there's Brody. While the motherly figure of her friend group and not being afraid to stand up to people inside said group, she always cowers against people that held power over her. One time she snapped at Minerva on accident, and the smack she received on her cheek that day had marked the start of her clamming up whenever Minerva entered the same room she was in. As Clementine had now cracked every single joint in her fingers, she started cracking the ones in her neck. It always caused the people around her great discomfort, but right now she had to in order not to run up to Minerva and shove her face into the solid wooden door she was leaning against. "Why don't you fucking ask her yourself, if you want to know so badly? She's her own person and she's sitting a few feet away from you, you know?" Clementine told her agitatedly. 

The suave redhead shrugged and walked over to Violet, whose look of discomfort had amplified tenfold. Minerva sat down next to her and put her hand on the blonde's shoulder. "And who might you be? I've seen you around but we've never actually had the chance to talk. My name's Minerva, it's good to finally meet you," she said in a soft, jovial manner. Clementine balled her fists and started hitting her own head at Minerva's behavior. She knew _exactly_ what Minerva was doing. 

"Minerva, I think you should leave. Please," Sophie chimed in, who instantly hooked onto Minerva's intentions as well, even if she wasn't as cognizant as Clementine about the situation. Clementine shot Sophie a grateful look to show her appreciation for helping out, knowing that the artist was going to be on the receiving end of a bitchy attitude from his sister for a few days now. _Well, I hope a few days anyway. It took Minerva two weeks to calm down last time,_ Clementine thought, letting out a sigh and nodding at Minerva to let her know that she agreed with what Sophie said. 

Sophie's sister raised her eyebrows in surprise, but didn't seem too frustrated by Sophie ganging up on her. "What? You're not going to let this lovely girl introduce herself to me? I thought you were all for kindness and jovalty? It seems rude to just send me away when I'm trying to properly introduce myself here, doesn't it?" Clementine slammed her balled fist on the ground in frustration. She knew that Minerva was right, but that didn't mean she was okay with letting Minerva besmirch Violet's opinion on them, because that was what the redhead usually did in situations like this. But after some of the shit that Minerva pulled in the past, she wasn't going to let her get away with this. Minerva turned towards Violet. "Well, it looks like your 'friend' isn't even going to be nice and let me introduce myself. That's rude of her, no? I guess we'll talk later when your amazing 'friend' isn't around, okay?" Minerva said, to which Violet meekly nodded in response. 

"Minerva, fuck off. Now," Clementine snapped at the girl. Much to her surprise, Minerva put her hands aloft in defeat and started making her way towards the door. She turned around and smiled warmly at the brunette. 

"Hey, Clementine," Minerva started, casually taking out her phone and dialing a number. While the phone dialed, she turned back to the musician. "Unless you want everyone to find out about your secret, then perhaps you should think about being nicer to me. Also... isn't alcohol forbidden in the dorms?"

"Get. The. Fuck. OUT!" Clementine screamed in frustration. Before waltzing out the door, Minerva gave her one more satisfied smirk, and then slammed the door shut behind her as she held her phone to her ear. Everyone in the room let out a huge sigh after the door finally fell shut, especially Brody who let herself fall down on her back on Sophie's bed. Clementine finally released the stress she had been putting on her jaw and unclenched her fists, and allowed herself to take one big gulp of the whisky she had brought with her. _Shit… I needed that_ so _fucking much_ , she thought before placing the bottle back where she had taken it from. She eased her glance around the room, before having it land on Violet, whose look of discomfort still hadn't reduced in the slightest. The blonde was nervously fidgeting her fingers and her glance was aimed towards her feet, even if she couldn't exactly see them. Clementine found in interesting that even when you're blind, the 'looking at your feet because you're nervous or uncomfortable' thing is something that still remained. 

Interim, she also felt sorry for the girl. She had made it clear that Minerva's sudden arrival had made her uncomfortable in one way or another. Clementine got up from her spot on the blanket fort and walked towards Violet, her throat still burning from the huge gulp of Jack Daniels she'd taken earlier. When she sat down next to Violet, she let out a long sigh at the thought of Minerva and all the bullshit she'd pulled just now. Suddenly, she felt the bed shifting and she looked at Violet, who was scurrying away from her. 

"No! Get away from me! Please, I didn't do anything!" Violet cried out, scuffling back against the wall. The three girls in the room were all intently focused on the sudden outburst, as it had scared all of them. Neither Sophie or Brody was paying attention to the girl at all when it happened, and they immediately came walking over to her. The rapid increase of footsteps around her only seemed to frighten the girl further, tears brimming at her eyes and a thin layer of sweat lacing the surface of her forehead as she clenched the blanket she was sitting on in her fist. 

"Woah, Violet. Relax, dude. It's just me," Clementine said defensively, putting her hands up in defeat, "I didn't mean to scare you or anything. You looked stressed so I want to ask you if you were okay?" The brunette slowly put her hands on Violet's thigh where she had put it earlier in the evening, to reassure her that everything was indeed okay. "See? It's just me. You don't need to worry." Violet calmed down a little bit at the brunette's soft words, but she was still visibly shaking. 

"O-Okay. I'm sorry, I'll be fine," Violet told Clementine, even if she sounded like was still trying to convince herself as well. After a few more seconds, the blonde's distress calmed down enough for her to get up from the bed and sit down on top of the blankets, albeit a little bit hesitantly. The last thing Violet wanted to do is to make her new friends worry about some of things going on in her head, nor wanted them to exert themselves to help her. And besides, even if she wanted to, she _couldn't_ tell them.

"Are you sure?" Brody questioned carefully, briskly positioning herself next to Violet's right. The blind girl nodded her head 'yes' absentmindedly as she petted Rosie, who had immediately crawled onto her lap when had she radiated the slightest bit of stress. Brody rubbed her temples exasperatedly, frustrated at herself for not finding any way she could help Violet. Brody was about to speak up again, when, out of the blue, the lights in the room went off. 

"SOPHIE! What the hell?! You know Brody is afraid of the dark!" was the first thing Clementine yelled when she noticed the absence of photons in the room, "She could have a panic attack!" While the musician kept yelling a bunch of obscenities at Sophie, some small lights turned on in the room, and they revealed the redhead standing there with candles in both of her hands. She instantly started apologizing to Brody about switching off the light _before_ lighting the candles, and as she made a team effort with Violet and Clementine, they were able to calm down the blue-eyed girl down. Clementine continued glaring at Sophie and threw more gaff her way, because when Louis had pulled this prank last time, the panic attack Brody got was so severe that the entire process of calming her down and making sure she was really okay took nearly two hours. _I swear to God, I almost killed Louis that day. His bribery where he promised to buy me Tim Tams is the only thing that stopped me…_ , Clementine thought, shaking her head at the memory. 

"I'm sorry, I forgot!" Sophie said for the millionth time, sounding like a broken record player. "I thought turning the lights off would have this epic dramatic effect, and totally forgot about Brody's phobia." As the artist floundered for a bit longer, Clementine sat down at the other spot available next to Violet and started petting Rosie, too. She shook her head at apologetic girl on the other side of the circle, "Sophie, I swear to God you're the type of person that struggles pouring water out of a boot that has the instructions on how to do just that taped at its heel." Violet snorted loudly at the insult.

"I said I'm sorry! Let's not dwell on the past, okay? I promise to be more careful next time," Sophie promised, sending an apologetic glance Brody's way, who just shrugged it off. "I'll be fine, Sophie. Don't worry about it," Brody said, who grabbed the bottle of booze in the center of their little circle, "I could definitely use some of this shit though…" As Brody popped the cap of the bottle off, Violet's face scrunched up at the malodorous liquor. Her twitched left eye twitched at the sound of the air bubbling up to the bottom of the bottle when Brody held it upside down to drink from it. She got shivers running down her spine when the bottle was placed back on the ground with a loud thunk. Her skin crawled when the odor of the booze started to overtake the room. 

Clementine reached into her pocket and took out her phone, which she connected to the high-end, expensive Bluetooth speaker that Sophie had received for her last birthday from her grandparents. As she scrolled through some of her playlists on Spotify, she was hesitant about which one to pick. She knew that Violet liked music very similar to her, and Sophie did too. But Sophie didn't really count on that matter, since she had a very broad music taste on could basically appreciate anything. Brody on the other hand, was the type of girl that listened to country music, that also being one of the reasons why she got along with Ruby so well. _Country music blows ass. Fuck that shit_ , Clementine mused, deciding on a heavy metal playlist to prove her hate for anything that wasn't heavy, fast and amazing. As the music started, Violet let out an enthusiastic happiness noise, Sophie shrugged and Brody groaned. Clementine sung along to the first lyrics that filled the before quiet room. 

_Six bars laid across the sky,_   
_Four empty walls to fill the time,_   
_One careless word, you lose your life,_ _  
_ A grave new world awaits inside.

Still headbanging along to the music, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the pack of stolen cards. _Once again, thanks Louis_ . She threw it towards the center of the circle, so that if they ever planned to play any sort of game, it'd be easier to grab. _Or something. Whatever_ . Now taking hold of the bottle of alcohol, she took another gulp and let out a relieved sigh. She really needed this after a long day of bullshit classes and getting admonished by teachers about her 'troublesome behavior.' _They just need to know when to shut the fuck up. It's not my fault that they make it my job to tell them._ "Gossip time!" Clementine called out enthusiastically with a grin planted on her face, "So, Sophie! Have you sucked Mitch's cock yet?" she queried. 

Sophie's face immediately flushed a crimson color and tried to hide it inside her shirt. "Cleeem...." she drawled, trying to ignore the cocky smirk that overtook Clementine's face in a matter of seconds, "Why do you always do this to me? Can't you just ask me… something normal?" While Sophie was busy being grilled by Clementine about her love life, Rosie had decided that she dutifully done her task and ensconced herself on Sophie's bed, snuggling into the redheads pillow. It was truly amazing how well Sophie and Rosie got in within a matter of a few minutes. While Rosie was still skeptical of the other kids, Sophie had instantly won her trust and the dog would always do to her whenever Violet needed help with anything, or just to seek comfort in general. 

Meanwhile, Violet remained impassive to the antics taking place around her and started ruminating about the situation she found herself in. It felt so _weird_ to her, that she had been accepted into a new group of friends so quickly and that it seemed like they didn't even need to get used to her presence at all. She knew that it had only been a few days that she's known them, but it already felt like months. The way the group so easily adjusted to her making appearances at their lunch table or hangout session, made her feel as if she truly belonged in the group. While Violet, considering all the shit that she endured, doesn't believe in shit like 'fate' and 'destiny' at all, getting sent here and immediately finding the best friends she's ever had, _does_ come scary close to just that. _Hopefully a girlfriend, too…_ , the blonde thought, her head turning towards Clementine for a short second. 

"Ad fundum!" the brunette in question suddenly exclaimed, emptying a shot glass that she had _somehow_ gotten her hands on. Clementine already felt herself getting tipsy, which she personally found to be the most awesome feeling in the world. _It's the only way you get to consciously do shit without people judging you for it_ , she thought, filling her glass one more time. "But Sophie, do tell! How's Mophie going? Or was it Sitch? Damn, y'all got some short ass names. How are Louis and me ever gonna make a ship name out of that. Fuck, man," she snorted, filling Sophie's shot glass to the brim, too. Brody wasn't drinking tonight, as she had informed the girls before. When Clementine placed a shot glass into Violet's hand after commanding her to hold it out, Violet recoiled, but keeping the glass steady to not spill anything everywhere. 

"No, thanks. I don't really drink…" she informed Clementine, who shrugged and then downed the glass herself. For some reason the musician really felt like drinking tonight, and she wasn't really sure why. It's not like experienced the need to prove her abilities to their newcomer or something, and it's not like she was particularly fond of Jack Daniels either. The only reason she bought it was because she thought the label and the bottle looked cool. Violet not drinking is something that Clementine found a little bit disappointing though, she'd have _loved_ to see a loosened up Violet that just spoke her mind instead of kind of keeping to herself all the time. She really wondered what usually went on in the blonde's head whenever she said 'It's nothing' or whenever she was having one of her pensive trances. Then again, Clementine does realize that far from everyone is as blunt and non-caring as she is. People could say the most offensive shit to her, and she'd shrug it off because she knew that they only said it because they're insecure themselves. The brunette deeply believes that anyone who genuinely tries to hurt anyone in any way, is immediately a shitload weaker than she is. 

After Clementine processed Violet's statement, she went back to interrogate Sophie about Mitch, smirking smugly when she found spotted something she could use as a secret weapon when Sophie denied everything the brunette stated. "You're telling me that you and Mitch haven't even spent some alone time together?" Clementine asked the redhead, who shook her head 'no' in response. "Then why is one of his shirts here?" The brunette pointed at the end of Sophie's bed, which did indeed have Mitch's shirt hanging on it. It was a white shirt that he often wore, with a text printed on it that read 'Fuck authority!' 

When Brody noticed Sophie's instant blush, she decided to step in and she stopped Clementine from grilling the flustered artist any further. When Clementine protested and stated that she 'wanted Sophie to spill some of her fucking tea, dude!', Brody impulsively snatched the stack of cards from the ground and aggressively tossed them at Clementine's head, who, due to the alcohol flooding her system, wasn't able to dodge it in time. Frustratedly rubbing her hurting forehead, Clementine noticed what Brody had thrown her way and immediately got giddy. "Oh, cards! We can do something fun with these, bro!" she exclaimed eagerly, handing out a few to everyone in the room, "I say we play two truths and one lie. I suppose y'all all familiar with it?" Everyone in the room nodded, except Sophie. "Two truths and one lie with cards?" she queried, eyeing Clementine curiously. The musician rolled her eyes dramatically. "God, do I have to write out everything for you? Lowest card tells the truths and the lie, highest has to guess which is the lie."

Violet was relieved that the topic in the room finally drifted away from sex and drinking, and happy that she finally felt like she too could add something to the conversations going on. With her blindness, she always missed out on so many things that she could've perceived otherwise, and that has always bothered her. She couldn't tell if Clementine was laughing or frowning when she refused the drink. She couldn't tell if Sophie was was defiant or understanding when Clementine called her daft earlier. There's so many things that she hasn't been able to detect and she's missing out on great details because of that. She has no clue what Clementine looks like, or Sophie and Brody. All she has ever known them as are voices with personalities bound to them. And even if she might not have the slightest clue what Clementine looks like, she still felt herself starting to crush on the, apparently, brunette more and more. Would she be really attractive, with the most beautiful eyes? Or would she be less good-looking? In the end, that all didn't matter for Violet. She could have the most beautiful looking girlfriend in the world, and it's not like she would ever know. 

"And, it looks like the first loser is me and the first winner is Sophie!" Clementine exclaimed out of nowhere. Violet wasn't even aware of the fact that she drew a card, but apparently she did. The blonde mentally braced herself for whatever was coming next, because Clementine's life was for sure as hell a lot more interesting than hers. It wouldn't surprise her if the two truths included her doing shit like beating up guys in the streets or drinking so much alcohol early in the morning that she was drunk in class. Then Sophie chimed in, "Well, Clem. Hit me with 'em."

The brunette pondered for a second, thinking about which ones to go for. She'd imagined herself playing this game with her friends a few times, and then always knew what she wanted to say, but, of course, all of those things have escaped her mind. _I bet the alcohol isn't helping my case either. Damn you, alcohol._ After about thirty seconds of deep thought, she settled on what she wanted to say. "Okay, number one. One time when Louis had to perform Chopin's Prèlude in E major, I heavily detuned his piano strings, especially the E strings, the night before his performance. I did this because he refused to share his ice cream with me the day before." This one caused Violet and Sophie to let out a snort, while Brody just shook her head in disappointment. Grinning widely, Clementine continued, "Two. One time I was at a fair and there was this lady with a newborn baby and I asked her where she'd won it, because, and I quote, 'I want one of those ugly ass dolls too.' She wasn't necessarily amused. And then three. When I was thirteen years old, I stole my dad's car to go to a metal concert which I'd illegally gotten a ticket for. Later that night when I got home, I was so stoned out of my mind because of weed that someone shared with me that my dad grounded me for three months. He wasn't even mad about the fact that thirteen year old me borrowed his car since he was so distracted by the fact that I smoked weed."

Brody's intense look of worry intensified the longer Clementine talked, as she was never really the type of person to talk about her life before she went to Ericson's, even if it wasn't nearly as bad as those of all the other people that got sent to the boarding school. "Is it really borrowing if you never even asked him? Did you even know how to drive? What the hell were you thinking?" Brody inquired sternly, her motherly side showing once again. Clementine shrugged at Brody's comments and looked at Sophie, who seemed to have settled on her answers, judging by her expression. The brunette shushed Brody's reprimandations and put her attention on Sophie, who was patiently waiting for the room to calm down a little so she could give her answers. 

The redhead held up three fingers. "Okay, so the first is that you detuned Louis' piano just before a performance, the second is that you asked a young mom where you can, 'win one of those ugly ass dolls', and the third is that you stole your dad's car, got high and got grounded?" the recalled, pointing at a different finger every time she recollected another one of Clementine's statements, who nodded to confirm her questioning. Sophie grinned in triumph, "Well, I know the second one is true, because I was there," she started, which resulted in Clementine swearing under her breath. "But she wasn't just 'not necessarily amused', she cried. Hard." That revelation caused Brody to hit Clementine's shoulder, who defended herself by saying 'I bought her ice cream to make up for it!' Sophie shook her head disapprovingly, even if she did think it was extremely funny at the time, too, even if it was an extremely asinine remark from a social perspective. Sophie continued, ignoring Brody's and Clementine's pettifoggery. "The other two on the other hand, I don't know. I could definitely see you doing both. There are very few things that could piss Louis off that you haven't done yet, so I don't see why messing up his piano would be an exception. Then the third thing, I find very hard to believe. A thirteen year old girl stealing a car, going to a concert, getting high and then driving back? I think I'm gonna call bullshit on that one," Sophie reluctantly decided, to which Brody shrugged and to which Violet said, 'Fair enough.'

Clementine glowed of mischief and shook her head. "Wrong! I never detuned Louis' piano. You should know that I think music is the best thing there is, and I would never do anything to sabotage anything music related. It'd be both treachery _and_ sacrilege," she explained to Sophie, pointing at her accusingly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. _Louis might be an idiot, but nothing is worth detuning a piano. I'd rather break my big toe than play on a severely detuned piano for five minutes_ , Clementine mentally opined, _I guess that's one of the benefits of owning an electric piano…_

Violet's jaw laid on the floor in astonishment. "You're saying that when you were thirteen, you stole your dad's car for a concert, got high and then drove back?" the blonde pondered out loud, and when the brunette next to her loud out a proud buzz of confirmation, she became completely nonplussed. She knew that Clementine's life would be a lot more interesting than hers ever was, she didn't expect the difference to be this severe. Even when she wasn't blind and non caring about what she was allowed to do by her parents or not, she'd always willfully just done anything she wanted. It wasn't like her parents ever truly cared, and it wasn't like she did either. All she did was live in the moment and have fun while at it, even if it mostly consisted of her just sauntering around town and getting up to some mischief with graffiti, which was another thing taken away from her after the accident happened. The amount of hobbies that she lost because of this entire thing was, at some points, unbearable for her. All Violet ever wanted when she was younger, was to grow up happy and as better people than her parents ever were. 

"Clementine, that is irresponsible! You could've seriously harmed yourself or even died!" Brody criticized harshly, pointing her index finger at the musician accusingly, "How could you do something that stupid?" When Clementine's 'Because I felt like it' didn't satisfy Brody, the auburn-haired girl went on a five minute rant, which included but wasn't limited to criticizing drunk driving, driving while high, going to a concert alone when you're thirteen, driving when you're thirteen, letting a guy share weed with you when you're thirteen and that she got lucky that her dad only grounded her for three months and didn't do anything else. "If my kid would've done that, they wouldn't have seen the light of day for a long, long freaking time!" Brody finished vehemently, crossing her arms in the process. 

The musician shrugged of Brody's lecture and told everyone to grab another card. Even when inebriated, Clementine still knew very well what she wanted and when she wanted it. She wanted to continue this game, have her friends tell her their life secrets, and to have forgotten them when dawn arises. When everyone revealed their cards, it became clear that Violet had to spill the beans and Clementine had to guess them. Adamant that she was going to get it right, Clementine cracked the joints in her hands again and patiently waited for Violet to come up with her three, well _two_ , facts about herself. Again, Clementine noticed Violet's face scrunching up when focused and concentrated, which looked kind of adorable to her. _Uh, what? No, it doesn't..._ , the brunette quickly mentally corrected herself, taken aback by the sudden thought. She shook her head and focused back on Violet, at least, at much as the firewater flooding her system permitted her to. 

After some time, VIolet seemed to have made up her mind and she sat up straight and turned her head towards Clementine. Softly clearing her throat, she spoke up, "One, I don't know how to ride a bicycle, simply because I never learned how. Two, my guilty pleasure song is Havana by Camila Cabello." Clementine let out a huge, exasperated, drawn out sigh and buried her face in her hands, muttering 'Oh no.' Violet chuckled shyly and continued, albeit not as eagerly as Clementine was when it was her turn, "And three, one time I stole a car radio just for funsies."

Clementine's previously soured mood completely vanished and she grinned at Violet, almost in a proud manner to show that she was proud of her. "Dude, you stole a car radio? Just for 'funsies'?" she questioned with an amused expression lacing her face. Clementine had thought that Violet had a little bit of a bad guy inside her, but she didn't expect it to be anything that would harm others. Violet really seemed like the pacifistic type to her, someone who would never do anything that would do anything that could potentially hurt or upset others. Stealing a car radio had seemed outside of the blind girl's realms. When Violet nodded to her inquiry, Clementine started thinking deeply. 

_Does Violet know how to ride a bike? I mean, everyone does, right? I've never met someone who couldn't ride a bike. So, that might be the lie, I guess. Then there's Havana… That song sucks so much ass, it wouldn't surprise me if she likes it. The song is really only a guilty pleasure as I can't see it being something someone genuinely enjoys. That one is probably true. Now, her stealing a car radio for 'funsies'? While I'd love to believe she did that, there is just no way in hell she did. She doesn't even like talking to people, let alone breaking into their cars and stealing a radio._

Deciding on a final answer, Clementine rubbed her hands together mischievously and took another sip of her grog. When she swallowed the burning liquid, she let out a satisfied hum and then focused on the blonde girl sitting next to her, who was fidgeting her fingers nervously. "I believe you can't ride a bike and Havana is so ass, the only thing it can be is a guilty pleasure song. I'm gonna call bullshit on the last, dude. There isn't a way in hell that you've stolen a car radio. Ever since I first laid my eyes on you I could tell you were too timid to even engage conversations, let alone break into cars, bro," the musician reasoned, to which Violet bashfully chuckled and slowly nodded her head. While Clementine revelled on her victory by loudly yelling 'Ayyy!' and fistbumping the air, the rest of the girls just smiled broadly at her ridiculousness. 

"Alright dudes, enough of this shit," Clementine declared after having calmed her tits, "This is too slow. We need to ask each other more questions that are more interesting, bro. I'll start. Sophie, did you and Mitch fuck yet? Like, all the way. Bam bam boom boom, y'know?" Sophie groaned, a glint of hopelessness in coating her voice while Violet and Brody visibly cringed. Brody pretended to be busy on her phone to avoid having to take place in the conversation while Violet just called Rosie over and started petting her to distract herself. 

Sophie opened her eyes again and looked at Clementine with dissatisfaction being the primary emotion filling them. She shook her head and sighed and placed her hands over her face to hide it. "Fine! We did! I just asked him to come to my room to hang out as some sort of 'first date' and things escalated. Neither of us regrets it and we wanna give a relationship a try. You happy now?" When Clementine nodded enthusiastically and cheered for them, Sophie let herself fall onto her bed and pressed her face into her pillow, trying to segregate herself from the room. Eventually, Clementine convinced her to join the conversation again by asking her if there's anything Sophie would maybe like to know about _her_. 

"What's with that necklace you always wear?" Sophie asked curiously, pointing at Clementine's chest while she straightened herself on her bed, using her pillow to sit on, "You say you hate jewelry, make-up and all that shit, but you wear that necklace all the time. Why?" What Sophie said was true. Clementine always ranted on about how she 'hates fake people' and 'detests anything that blurs what a person really is like', which included but wasn't limited to jewelry and make-up. 

Clementine sighed, as if tired, and took off the necklace and displayed it in her hand. A gold shimmer flickered across the room, and the girls (that were capable of seeing) all moved to sit closer to Clementine to be able to view it better. "As you all know, my parents live far away from here. They're in Oregon," Clementine started. It didn't feel like a heartfelt speech nor an emotional one, but for some reason there was some kind of sadness apparent in her speech, "And when they sent me here, they gifted me this." Clementine handed the piece of jewelry to Sophie, who was now able to see the charm clearly. A golden firefly. "As you said, I might hate jewelry to try and look fancy, but this has emotional value. It's the last thing my grandmother ever gave to my dad before she died." As she let the others take in all that information, she took back her necklace and put it back on. "So yeah… I hate jewelry, but I do love Oregon fireflies."

As the rest of the night passed by, Sophie and Clementine slowed their drinking and the girls got engrossed in conversations about many different types of things, but mainly sex and boys (poor Violet). Before the girls realized it, the clock had already struck midnight and Clementine had had _plenty_ to drink, to say the least. Since it's Friday and they didn't have school tomorrow, they decided that all the three girls could just crash in Sophie's room since Minnie had somewhere else to be. Clementine vehemently refused to sleep on Minerva's bed though, which led to her sleeping on the blanket fortress, while Brody and Violet shared Minerva's bed (poor Violet, again), which was luckily more than big enough for two people. When Clementine questioned why Minerva even had a king-sized bed, Sophie explained that Minerva simply couldn't sleep on beds any smaller. _Just seems like an excuse to have a comfortable bed to smash in, but okay_ , Clementine mused, shaking her head disappointedly as she laid down on the pile of blankets, which were a bunch more comfortable than she had previously anticipated. Clementine dozed off into sleep before she even realized it herself, and so did the other girls. Brody and Violet took a bit longer, both because of the entire 'sharing a bed' thing and because they weren't intoxicated. Eventually, the two sober girls ended being taken over by somnolence too, and so the night ended. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	13. Chapter 13

When Clementine woke up the following morning, she was immediately greeted by a throbbing headache plaguing her skull. She groaned loudly and rolled to her side, which woke up Violet who instantly shot up straight in bed, frantically moving her head in a bunch of different directions to try and coordinate herself. Her movements then proceeded to wake up Brody, who got startled and fell off the bed on top of Clementine, who then shrieked loudly and woke up Sophie, who jumped up and hit her head against the shelf of books above her bed, which then all fell down on top of her. 

A great way to start the morning. 

"Fuck saaake," Clementine complained as she pushed Brody off of her, clutching her head in her hands as she tried to stand up, balancing herself on the bedside drawer, "My head feels like fucking Nagasaki in '45," she whined, reaching for a bottle of water that Sophie had generously provided the previous night. She had planned on drinking some of it before she planned on entering the realm of dreams, but the musician crashed hard last night. Simply the thought of sleeping had made her fall asleep. "Sophie, do you have aspirin or some shit? I'm gonna fucking die over here," Clementine asked when she again felt her head throbbing with pain. 

"Bedside drawer, the second from the bottom," came Sophie's muffled voice from underneath the massive stack of books on her bed. She hadn't bothered even attempting to remove them yet. Clementine let out a hum in appreciation and stumbled to her knees to get to reach said drawer. When she did, she pulled out a small bottle of pills with a label on it that read 'Hangover cure for Clementine.' _You know me too well. Damn you, Sophie_ , Clementine thought, internally groaning. She popped two of the pills and then chugged half the bottle of water. "Clem, can I have some, please?" Sophie asked, who seemed to have finally mustered up the courage to start extricating herself from her lettered confinement. 

"Yaaa yeet," Clementine muttered, tossing the bottle at Sophie's head aggressively, the bottle of water following shortly after. The redhead managed to catch the pills, but the bottle water hit her in the side of the head, making her moan in agony. "Jesus fuck, Clem," she complained to the brunette, then popping the same amount of pills as Clementine did and then finishing the bottle of water. 

Brody looked smugly at the entire situation unfolding herself, finding herself unable to resist making the comment she always loved making. "That's what you get for drinking, girls," she announced in a self-satisfied manner. Clementine immediately flipped her off, "Fuck you, Brody. You're afraid of the dark, so leave me alone. At least a hangover is something worth complaining about," the musician argued. She then strode towards the bed where Violet was still seated and plopped herself down next to the blonde, wrapping an arm around Violet's shoulder. "And how is my favorite blonde girl feeling after this spectacular night?"

Violet immediately blushed furiously and tensed up and tried to hide her cheeks behind her arms, but failed miserably. She swallowed her nerves and looked in Clementine's direction. "I'm your favorite blonde girl?" she asked timidly, instantly looking towards the floor after having asked her question. _Please don't say no, please don't say no_ , the blind girl internally pleaded. The urge to just hug Clementine and hold her close intensified every single moment she spent with the brunette. For some reason, she just trusted Clementine like she did with on one else. Always, Clementine had been honest, blunt and down-to-earth with her, and while shocking and nonplussing at times, she really respected that trait. Other than that, Clementine's gentle words whenever she was worried about her sent shivers down her spine and her overall caring nature made Violet's inside tingle. 

Clementine grinned broadly and pressed Violet against her side tighter. "Of course, you are! You might be the only blonde girl I spend time with, but that's besides the point," she explained cheerily, not noticing the pink coating the cheeks of the girl she held close to her. Already finding something to distract herself again, she wiggled herself free of Violet and walked towards her phone that had somehow ended up in the corner of the room, on top of the bottle of Jack Daniels. Grabbing it, she checked the time and cursed loudly. "Fuck! It's 11:30. Breakfast hours are over. Do you have any munchies in here, Soph?"

Sophie raised her head from behind the blankets she had ensconced herself in and looked at Clementine with a drowsy appearance. Her long, usually majestic hair pointed in every single direction and all the knots in her hair were clearly visible, even from a few feet away. It basically looked like a huge, tangled fluffball. She confusedly looked around her room and then her eyes landed on the mini fridge she once bought together with Minnie to keep fresh drinks and food in. "Think there might be something in there," she said absentmindedly, gesturing towards the Marshall minifridge, which Minerva had insisted on getting because it looked like a guitar amplifier. Minerva played guitar too, but mainly acoustic. But, because Clementine liked to prove her superiority, every time Minnie played in public she'd get her guitar and play things way more impressive. _Dick move? Totally. Worth it? Hell yes_ , Clementine thought, walking over towards the fridge and swinging it open. 

It was empty. 

"Fucking cockblood infused bitchfuck!" Clementine exclaimed frustratedly, slamming the fridge door shut loudly and stomping over towards the bed, sitting down next to Violet again, who grinned at her outburst but tried to hide her amusement by biting down fiercely on the inside of their cheeks. It worked, since Clementine didn't notice her enjoyment and instead got up from the bed again and started collecting all of her things. She grabbed her phone ( _Which I forgot to charge last night. Fuck)_ , her charger, the deck of cards and, most importantly, the bottle of booze. When she felt inside her pocket she noticed that they hadn't gotten around to using her secret surprise. _Maybe next time_. She turned towards her friends who were in deep conversation about something of which she couldn't be bothered to listen to. All she knew, is that when she turned to face them, Sophie grinned extremely mischievously at her and Violet had turned beet red. Raising her eyebrows at the occurrence, she announced that she'd be walking back to her room. 

Sophie rose to her feet quickly, dragging Violet up with her. "Clem, why don't you walk Violet to her room? Y'know, in case _something_ might happen," the redhead said, nudging Violet who just looked away and called for Rosie, who was by her side in an instant. Clementine shrugged, muttering 'sure' under her breath and carefully intertwined her right arm with Violet's left to help her navigate more easily through Sophie and Minnie's now messy room and empty hallways. 

During the weekends, students were allowed to leave the school grounds and go into the nearest town to do whatever they liked, as long as they were back before curfew, which was 10.30pm. Not like anyone actually listened to that, nor was there someone checking if all the students were in the dorms at those times, but that's besides the point. While usually the dorm would be filled with loud voices and echoes during this hour, now it was dead silent as the two girls slowly made their way towards Violet's room. Both the girls felt at peace like this, by each other's side. They both experienced it as if they'd known each other forever and it just felt _right_. Meanwhile, Violet's heartbeat was through the fucking roof, knowing what she was about to do, trepidation overtaking her. 

When they reached Violet and Brody's room (Brody wanted to hang out with Sophie a bit longer), Clementine opened the door for the blonde to enter through, and once Violet stood inside the doorway, she turned around. Then, she took a deep breath and started talking. "Clementine, there's something I have to tell you. I think I like you, as in more than a friend. I have for some time now, and I know it's fast, but I just had to tell you. It was eating away at me. I just… it feels like between us, there's something more, or something. D-Do you feel this, too?" Violet clenched her eyes shut, awaiting an answer. Preparing for the worst, she took a subtle stance to be able to slam the door shut in case shit did go south for her.

Meanwhile, Clementine stood across of Violet, her mouth agape and completely stumped. It took her a few seconds to fully process the bomb that Violet just dropped on her, but when she did she closed and reopened her mouth. "W-What? Violet, I… I don't know?" she muttered moreso to herself than Violet, but it was seemingly enough to get the message across and before she was able to get another word in, Violet slammed the door shut, muttering 'Forget it' in the process. Clementine could swear she heard a stifled sob behind the closed door, but she had _no idea_ what she should do with that information. _Do I just… leave it be? I don't know what the fuck else I can do? Talking to her will only make shit worse, right?_ the musician mused, shaking her head and deciding to just walk back towards her room. When she reached it, she let herself fall onto her bed and started staring at the ceiling. 

_What in the fucking asscheeks just happened?_

***

Louis woke up, feeling well rested and energetic as he always did. Since Louis is a morning person (as well as an afternoon and evening person), he immediately jumped up from his bed and walked towards his clothing closet to get dressed. As he absentmindedly dressed himself, a smile is immediately brought to his face recalling the events of the night prior. Since the girls had planned one of their 'girls' nights', he'd decided to spend his night with James, and they went on a date to a nice restaurant in the nearest town. Louis couldn't grasp how it was that James and him had never even properly talked before, the two of them got along so well. His cheery, energetic personality harmonized so well with James' quiet, timid one. They always brought out the best out of the other, and that's something that Louis absolutely loved about their relationship. He would be able to push James to be a bit more open and talkative, while James could tell him to shut his mouth for once whenever he started rambling to a waitress about how awesome he thought his boyfriend was. _Jamie turned so red when I did that… I just wanted to pinch his cute cheeks. The one's on his face, I mean. I'd never, eeever pinch the other ones. Seriously, you can ask him! Okay, maybe I did do it once. Or twice. But that's it, I promise!_

Grinning, he let himself fall down onto his brown, leather couch and he crossed his legs. The dreadlocked boy scanned around his densely decorated room, looking at all the souvenirs and gifts from his friends that are hanging on the walls everywhere and stocking the shelves around his room. He stifled a loud snort when his eyes land on something Clementine had given him the first time she was there to witness one of his _seriously amazing_ birthday parties. She'd given him a nine inch golden-colored dildo statue, with the text 'Eat me, asshole' engraved on its balls. When James visited his room for the first time, the asian boy had looked at it _very_ questionably. It took some explaining, but eventually James had just dropped it while shaking his head, looking at the thing disappointedly. And so it remained on display at once of Louis' most prized trophies. 

Louis took out his phone, deciding to text his friends and ask if anyone wanted to do anything today. _Maybe something with Violet again, too. She seems to have really warmed up to us, I hope she'll wanna come_ , he mused, opening his texts and scrolling through the long list of chats. He flinched when he skipped past his dad's name. _Hm, yeah. Let's not text him…_ Louis opened the chat called 'I'll rip your fucking pubes out.' _That's what Clem named it after I changed it to 'I didn't know clementines could be brown.' I guess I kind of had that one coming._

 **Ace of Gays:** good mornin' beautiful people!

 **Jimi Clemdrix:** Oh, god. Kill me

 **Sophidor Dali:** morning, louis 

**Broomy Womby:** Clementine, be nice!

 **Broomy Womby:** Huh!!! What the heckies is this name??

 **Ace of Gays:** i figured itd be appropriate after what happened at our bbq

 **Jimi Clemdrix:** It is appropriate

 **Broomy Womby:** Sometimes I wonder if my efforts to raise you all are even worth it…

 **Jimi Clemdrix:** Dicks are funny. HAHA!

 **Broomy Womby:** …

 **Jimi Clemdrix:** And btw, you've got it better than me. I'm named after some overrated guitarist that Louis knows I hate

 **Broomy Womby:** Why don't you ask him to change it???

 **Jimi Clemdrix** : I've tried, but he thinks his pun is too amazing. There was a reason there was cantaloupe in his food yesterday morning

 **Ace of Gays: ...** THAT WAS YOU?

 **Jimi Clemdrix:** Hehe, yup

 **Ace of Gays:** whatever. that's not what im here for. i wanted to ask if some of you maybe wanna hang out?

 **Jimi Clemdrix:**...do I have to? 

**Broomy Womby:** I'm in!!! 

**Mitch the Ignition Switch:** I'll be there too

 **Sophidor Dali:** Hey Mitch!! :)

 **Mitch the Ignition Switch:** Hey babe

 **Jimi Clemdrix:** Soph is blushing really hard 

**Sophidor Dali:** Am not!

 **Jimi Clemdrix:** _Picture attached_

 **Sophidor Dali:** Clem!!!

 **Jimi Clemdrix:** See? I told you all she's blushing

 **Mitch the Ignition Switch:** you're so adorable Soph

 **Jimi Clemdrix:** You just made it worse!

 **Mitch the Ignition Switch:** bet she isn't as red as last night

 **Sophidor Dali:** Mitch!!!

 **Jimi Clemdrix:** HAHA YES

 **Ace of Gays:**...right. brodes, can you ask if vi wants to come?

 **Broomy Womby:** Not right now, I'm having breakfast and she was still 'asleep' when I left

 **Ace of Gays:** what's the quotes for

 **Broomy Womby:** I heard her crying before she realized I was awake. I decided not to push it, but I'm worried

 **Jimi Clemdrix:** Oh… shit

 **Ace of Gays:** damn, i'll check by you guys' room real quick. i wonder what happened

 **Jimi Clemdrix:** Yeah... me, too...

 **Broomy Womby:** You're just gonna waltz into the girls' dorms at 10:05 in the morning? With girls coming out of the showers wrapped up in towels? 

**Ace of Gays:**...yes?

 **Broomy Womby:** Whatever. I'll see you all later today. Meet at Clem's room at 12?

 **Ace of Gays:** you got it

Pushing himself up using his hands after placing his phone back into right pocket, Louis marched towards his door, snatching a Hershey Bar from his desk as he made his way towards the door. Opening it in one swift motion, he stepped into the hallway filled with the cacophony of the groggy, testosterone-fueled male students all making their way towards the cafeteria while complaining that the breakfast hours are always way too early during the weekends. Mitch walking out of his room caught Louis' attention and the pianist yelled the boy's name, who looked at him and threw him a nod. In return, Louis sent finger guns his way, causing Mitch to try and hide a grin while shaking his head. When Mitch went his separate way towards his other group of friends, Louis decided it would be best for him to just try and make it towards Violet and Brody's room as soon as possible. _I hope Violet's okay. Hopefully this isn't something we caused as a group by making her uncomfortable, or something_ , Louis thought, striding down the stairs swiftly and taking a sharp right turn towards the girls' dorms. Ignoring the questioning glances all of the girls sent his way, he confidently walked to the door where VIolet currently resided, and knocked three times.

"Violet, are you in there?" he asked softly, not quite turning the doorknob yet to not invade their newcomer's privacy. When no response came, he found himself nervously folding a playing card in his pocket and biting the nail on his left thumb. He hated feeling powerless in situations like this. He hadn't known Violet for long at all, and therefore he knew it made sense that the girl didn't fully trust him yet, but it did hurt a little nonetheless. _Are we not good enough?_ he wondered, biting down on his tongue and knocking again. "Violet, please. It's okay if you don't want to talk right now, but the group is hanging out again today. We're meeting at Clem's room at 12. We'd love it if you came, it's always so much fun with you there."

What sounded like a stifled sob came from the other side of the door, making Louis flinch. "P-Please, Louis. Leave me alone," came from the other side of the door, spiking Louis' worrying even more. _What in the hell could've happened that made her like this?_ He resisted the urge to step inside and just hug the girl to comfort her, as he didn't really know if Violet would appreciate such gestures. Then, Violet spoke up again. "Besides, even if I wanted to come, I couldn't. Luke is tutoring me at 1, so I don't have time." 

_That's a lie_ , Louis immediately thought, _There's no tutoring hours on Sunday_ . He pinched the bridge of his nose, frustrated that he can't help her in any way. He wants to be there for the blonde and help her with whatever it is she's going through, but in order for that to happen Violet has to let him in and share her emotions. And it didn't look like that was happening any time soon. Trying to not make the frustration in his voice become apparent, he spoke up again. "Okay, no problem. Hopefully you'll be able to make it next time," he said, hesitating for a second, "And if you ever need someone to talk to, about _anything_ , I'm here for you, okay? And so are Clementine, Sophie, and Brody. We're _all_ here for you."

He took the silent treatment the blonde gave him as his cue to leave and he turned around, shaking his head. On his way towards the cafeteria, the pianist ran into Brody, who instantly noticed his saddened demeanor. "It's bad, isn't it?" Brody questioned, mirroring Louis' headshaking. All the dreadlocked boy could do was nod his head 'yes', which led to Brody looking down at the ground sadly. "Crap. If she keeps this up, that'll mean it's not just us being paranoid about something that might just be a small thing. If she doesn't go back to her normal self soon, I'll start asking others if they might know what's up. I don't wanna worry the others just yet if there's still a chance it's nothing. I know we talked about it in our group chat, but I doubt most people will really take it seriously unless they see it for themselves. If nothing improves, we'll make sure to help her." 

Louis nodded his head slowly, taking in Brody's words and mentally agreeing with them, _even if I really don't want to fucking wait to help her. She might need it right now, what if doing it in two days is too late? I… I couldn't save Mylène, I can't let it happen to Violet too..._ He didn't provide his friend an answer, as he needed time to process all of this alone. He excused himself and walked towards the cafeteria to grab food. Ignoring Clem and Sophie's calls, he filled a plate and went out towards the courtyard, which had a few students scattered across it. As he absentmindedly walked towards their usual bench, he noticed it was occupied by a _certain_ redhead and her cronies. Attempting to not show annoyance to Minerva, he casually walked by and caught a few words that were being said in the group. "Minnie, why are you being distant?" one of the cronies asked, which Louis didn't know the name of. He was immediately shut down by Minnie, who yelled at him saying that she 'wasn't being distant' and 'just had other stuff to do.' 

Now filtering out the conversation from the rest of the noise filling the outside area, he walked over towards a tree near the outside basement entrance. As he wool-gathered about the, to him, stressful events of this morning, he silently ate his breakfast, ignoring the people snickering at him for eating his food while sitting against a tree. Frustration slowly but surely started bubbling up, and he smashed his plate against the wall behind him hard, quieting the entire courtyard. "FUCK!" he exclaimed, getting back to his feet and stomping back towards the dorm entrance. 

As soon as the boy made it back to his room, he grabbed his shower supplies and went into the boy's showering room, which had even more penises drawn inside it that the female one. Not sacrificing a single second, he went inside one of the showering cabins and ran the water, getting under it before it had even turned warm. He slid down against the shower wall and ended up sitting on the ground, frustratedly rubbing his hands through his hair. 

_I… I just wanna help her…_

***** (2-day time skip)**

Clementine instinctively spun her pencil around in her fingers, her guts starting to feel heavier by the second. Violet hadn't said a single thing to here since the day started. The only interaction they had was Violet looking at her at the start of the class and then immediately looking away. The lecture of their new biology teacher, some Spanish dude she hadn't bothered to memorize the name of, didn't interest her in the slightest. Worry for Violet was the only thing that filled her head, but she had no clue what to do about it. It wasn't like she could simply walk up to Violet and talk about what happened. _I wish it was that easy…_

Sophie, noticing the distress of the girl seated next to her, softly nudged Clementine's side, who dropped her pencil in shock after being pulled out of her thoughts. Groaning, she bent down to pick it up from underneath her chair. _For some reason bending to grab a fallen pencil is_ the _worst feeling in the world_ , Clementine thought, silently swearing at the artist next to her for scaring her like she did. 

"It's bothering you, isn't it?" Sophie inquired softly, trying to not catch the attention of their teacher, who didn't even seem to really know what he was talking about either. Ignoring her worries for the capabilities of the person who's supposed to educate her, she turned her head back towards Clementine, who slowly nodded. "I don't get it either, Clem. She talked to me, Louis and Brody just fine but she seems to be avoiding you for some reason. I hope it's just coincidences and that we're just overanalyzing things…"

 _Press X to doubt_ , Clementine thought, shaking her head compulsively. "I hope that too. I have no idea why she's acting this way, though," she said, biting her tongue when she told yet another lie. _I can't keep this up. I have to talk to Violet at_ some _point about this. I just don't know what the hell to say…_

Sophie was about to reply to Clementine's statement, but was cut off by the school bell ringing. The musician's eyes immediately went towards Violet, who immediately stood up and left the classroom as quickly as her blindness allowed her. Rosie seemed startled by her rush, so the blonde's faithful companion only left the room a few seconds after. _Fuck! I guess it's pretty bad, then…_ Clementine thought, kicking herself mentally. The brunette felt a hand on her shoulder, and spun around and was met with the sight of Brody and Louis joining her and Sophie's side. "You've noticed it too, I see?" Louis asked thoughtfully, leading the quartet into the hallway, "Violet purposely avoiding you, shit like that," he added. When Clementine nodded, it only furthered Louis' suspicions. The pianist had immediately noticed the blind girl's shift in behavior towards Clementine early in the morning. Usually, Violet would always shyly greet the brunette and blush when the brunette pulled her in for a short hug. 

She didn't even acknowledge Clementine's presence today. 

Clementine watched Violet hurriedly make her way down the hallway. _Did I… Did I really fuck this up?_

***** (2-day time skip)**

The bell that indicated the end of the school day rang, and students started to quickly flood from their classrooms into the hallways. Sophie, Brody, Violet and Clementine made their way from the classroom, all waving enthusiastically towards Luke who returned the wave with a bright smile. Usually, Louis would join them on their way towards the courtyard to hang out, but he ran off with James somewhere, probably to make out or something. The two of them had hit it off real good, and as far as the entire friend group was concerned, the two of them were on their way to easily become the most adorable couple of the school. The way they held hands, kissed each other's cheeks and just showed affection in any way they could without it being too ridiculous in public was _absolutely_ adorable. 

When the quartet of girls reached the dorms, Violet excused herself and turned around and started maneuvering the other way. Brody immediately shot a look of worry at the back of the blonde's head. This wasn't the first time she had done this in the past few days, and the motherly figure of the group simply could _not_ figure out why. As far as she knew, nothing had really changed about Violet or the way that they acted around her. It suddenly just seemed like Violet wanted more space, or something. "Does anyone else notice Violet becoming a lot more distant? I thought it was just a thing on Saturday, but she's been doing it ever since and I'm kind of worried. She's been more distant in class and she's always wearing her earbuds and listening to music. Does anyone know what might have happened?" Brody said questioningly, and thereby winning the attention of the girls still with her. She immediately noticed Clementine biting her lip. "Clementine Jaylynn Marsh, you know something. What the heck happened?" she inquired fiercely, poking Clementine's chest. Meanwhile, Louis was apparently done making out with James and he joined their side. Clementine's bit the inside of her cheek, knowing that Louis was _seriously_ pissed about the entire Violet situation. Not at others, but at himself, deeming himself 'not worthy enough to be her friend if I can't even fucking help her when she needs it.'

Clementine recoiled and begrudgingly rubbed the spot above her right breast. "That hurt," she pouted, looking down at the spot where Brody had poked her, "And I don't know what you're talking about," Clementine told her, looking at her defiantly. Brody gritted her teeth loudly. "Clementine, I am many things, but not stupid. And besides, I've known you for a while and I know _exactly_ when you're lying."

"What's all this about?" Louis questioned fiercely, getting protective over his best friend. Brody then proceeded to tell him about her suspicions and Louis' demeanor immediately changed. He faced Clementine and towered over her. "Clementine, I swear to God. If you know something that we don't and you're not telling us, I will do something I'm going to regret."

Clementine bit the inside of her cheek, almost breaking skin. "Dude, leave me alone! I know as much as you do about this!" she fired back, pushing Louis back a little bit. While she felt bad about this gesture, it was necessary for her to not have Louis towering over her. Louis worked his teeth into his tongue and shook his head, muttering something to himself which remained inaudible to the girls around him. When he stomped away, Brody turned towards Clementine again and shook her head disappointedly. 

"Sorry if it seemed like we were accusing of something, Clem. But we really want to help Violet and since you were closest to her we figured you might know something. I guess when I saw that you were worried too, my brain just thought it meant something else. Do you think… you could talk to her? Like I said, you're the one that seems to click with her the best," Brody gave voice, placing her hand on Clementine's shoulder in hopes to both comfort the girl and for the request to appear more inviting than it truly was. Brody knew damn well, even though Clementine deeply cared for her friends and would do anything to help them, that she had severe difficulties with talking about the feelings of others, and more so her own. _Especially since…_ that _happened_ , Brody thought, shaking her head at the memory. Clementine entered a pensive state as for a second, gravely doubting whether talking to Violet was the smartest thing to do here. 

_I mean, what would it solve? If I walk up to her and go: 'Hey, you like me but I don't like you', it's not like that's going to change anything. I think just leaving her alone to think about it for a little while will be best? That's probably what she needs…_

"Brody, I don't know if me talking to her is smart right now. Louis told me how she dodged talking to him on Saturday, and she has since started speaking to all of you again, but not to me. She hasn't said a word to me, _at all_ . She'll probably just shut me down if I approach her now. She'll come along when she's ready," Clementine opined, rubbing her eyes. _Can I perform music in front of hundreds of people? Yes. Can I approach a girl who likes me but I don't like her so we can talk about what happened? Nope._

While the trio continued theorizing about possible reasons about Violet's out of place behavior, they made their way towards Clementine's room to hang out, as she didn't have a roommate. When Brody let herself drop on the bed, she groaned loudly. "God, I hope she's okay. I understand that she wants to be alone for a little bit, I guess, but I just hope she doesn't start associating herself with bad people or start doing drugs, or something."

"She wouldn't do that," Clementine pointed out, "She absolutely hates alcohol, I doubt that she would ever get involved with drugs or people surrounding drugs. She's better and smarter than that." That's what the musician hoped, anyway. She knew that Violet was very intelligent, even if it didn't show often because of her timidness. Surely she wouldn't let herself get sucked down the whirlpool of the drugs world. _Right…?_ Clementine hoped, _Fuck, I need to talk to her. I hope she's okay…_

Meanwhile, Violet slowly ambled towards the bell tower of the school. She'd been going here at least once a day since Saturday, since… _since Clementine rejected me_. Sighing and shaking her head free of the bad memory, she continued walking down the gravel path leading up to the building far more ancient that the school, Rosie by her side. While Rosie wasn't necessarily fond of what she used to find her peace, Violet didn't care in the slightest. 

The walk towards the bell tower was, for Violet's doing, quite lengthy and she found herself needing Rosie's support and that of her cane a lot more than she usually would, since the terrain is quite rough; it's filled with branches, uneven rock surfaces and sometimes even slippery if water from the stream next to the school made its way onto it when there was a lot of wind. When she heard Rosie let out a small whine, Violet knew that she had reached her final destination. Rather than climbing up the bell tower, she went towards the right and towards a small door, that was surreptitiously placed behind a small, cracked wall. Very slowly and carefully climbing through she found herself inside what had been her hideout for the past few days. She smiled when she heard the voice that she had grown oh so familiar to the last couple of days call out to her. 

"Hey there, Violet."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	14. Chapter 14

Clementine found herself sitting on their trusty bench on the school's courtyard with all of her friends, including Violet. The sun was starting to set and a small breeze sometimes brushed her skin, making her shiver ever so slightly. The musician smiled as she looked at the blonde girl sitting a few feet to her left on the fountain's edge. Earlier today, Clementine had finally decided she was done between the bullshit between her and Violet and had approached her and talked to her about the tension between the two. It had gone a lot smoother than she had anticipated. 

_Clementine let out a frustrated grunt as she got up from her bed. Clementine let out a second frustrated grunt when she stepped under the shower. Clementine let out a third frustrated grunt when she walked back to her room after having showered. Clementine let out a fourth frustrated grunt as she stomped over towards Violet and Brody's room. She let out a fifth when she knocked and awaited an answer._

_The door opened and Brody poked her head out, smiling lightly when she spotted Clementine. "Hey, Clem! What's up?"_

_"Mind if I steal Violet for a bit? I need to talk to her," Clementine asked, cracking her knuckles, "It's kind of important."_

_Brody shrugged and fully opened the door. "Of course, I was about to shower anyway. I'll leave you two to it."_

_As soon as Brody left the room, Clementine stepped inside and instantly spotted Violet lying on her bed with Rosie cuddled up against her. "Hey, Clem," the blonde sighed, "What's up?"_

_"I think you know what's up…" Clementine sighed as she sat down on the edge of the bed and started petting Rosie, "This tension between us because of what happened sucks ass and I don't like it, because it sucks ass. Like, big ass. Like,_ **_super_ ** _big ass."_

_"Yup, big ass, I got it," Violet snickered as she sat upright, "I agree. It was… kind of stupid, anyway… It just kind of sent me into a funk for some time. Should we just move on and pretend that it never happened?"_

_Clementine remained silent for some time, her mind going blank for a second. "Seriously? It's that easy? I thought we were gonna have to like, talk about it, and shit."_

_"Doesn't have to be difficult," Violet shrugged, standing up from the bed and stumbling towards her bedside drawer. "I just took it badly because I had somehow convinced myself that you might feel the same. And when you didn't… you know. It hurt. But I'm okay now."_

_"Okay, then…" Clementine confusedly breathed out, shaking her head clear and cracking her joints again. "So… friends?"_

_"Friends," Violet replied with a weak smile, which quickly faltered, "Sorry for dropping that bomb on you though… Should've thought it through a lot better. But hey, I'm a fuck-up in general, so I don't really know what else I expected."_

_"You're not a fuck-up at all!" Clementine said defiantly, standing up from the bed as well and walking over to the blonde, placing her hand on her shoulder, "Look, you might not get to eat me out, but that doesn't mean that you'r—"_

_"Yeah, thanks, Clem. You don't need to finish that sentence," Violet said, her face reddening a bit. Actually, it reddened a lot. Like,_ **_a lot_ ** _._

_"Well…" Clementine mumbled, breaking the silence that lingered in the air for around half a minute, "I guess I'm gonna go now. Talk to you in class?"_

_"Definitely."_

So, with these two being on good terms again, they were now all enjoying time together on the courtyard. The peaceful chirping of birds filled the air, an—

"EAT ME, BITCH!" Mitch yelled as he tackled Louis to the ground roughly, and the two started wrestling. 

"Boys, boys! What the hell is this?" Sophie asked as she came running over, and the two instantly froze on the spot. "What is going on?"

"Nothing, my lovely amazingly cute Sophie," Mitch said, jabbing Louis in his side roughly with his elbow. 

"Nothing my ass!" Louis exclaimed, "This guy jumped me because I took one of his Takis! Like, what the hell! It's just a Taki!" 

"What the fuck even is a Taki?" Clementine chimed in. 

"They're snacks from fucking God, that's what they are!" Mitch yelled, "And this dumb ass gay thought he could steal mine? Don't fucking think so, buddy. You're gonna have to go get your own." He snatched the purple bag from Louis' hands and said back on the bench and continued eating his Takis as if nothing happened. 

"Mitch, you have to be nice! You can't just jump people because they took one of your Takis, even if I don't even know what they are either," Sophie said, shaking head. 

"Babe, you're supposed to have my back! You're my girlfriend!" Mitch huffed. 

"No, it means I have to keep you in check." Sophie playfully rolled her eyes as she strolled over to him. "Mitchyyy," she cooed as she sat down next to him, "Can I try one…?"

Louis grumbled and glanced at Mitch angrily. "I swear to God, if _she_ gets one I'm gonna fucking k—"

"Of course, babe." Mitch instantly handed the bag to Sophie, who took it and kissed his cheek.

"WHAT THE HELL, DUDE?" 

"Thanks," she grinned, opening the bag and taking out one of the snacks. She eyed it curiously as had never seen it before. 

"Dude, that low-key looks like a fleshlight for a duck," Clementine said as she scooted over towards Sophie and took a closer look at the snack. 

"SEE! I told you I wasn't the only one who thought that!" Mitch exclaimed to Louis, who was still sitting on the ground with his arms crossed. 

"What does a duck even have to do with all of this?" Sophie asked as she bit the snack inquisitively, her eyes instantly widening when she tasted it, "Oh my Jesus, this shit is really fucking good," she gasped, grabbing a few more. 

Clementine cleared her throat. "Well, since it's a tiny, fried tortilla, it means that it has been rolled up. Ducks have corkscrew-shaped penises, hence that Mitch and I both th—"

"Clem. Stop," Sophie cringed. "I don't need to know what shape the penis of ducks are."

"You're the one that fucking asked!" Clementine huffed in response, crossing her arms. "And, _by the way_ , I get to lecture anyone on duck penises whenever I want to!"

"No, you don't!"

"Fuck you!" Clementine said as she snatched the bag of Takis and started running towards the other side to the courtyard. 

"BITCH!" Mitch instantly yelled and he ran after her. The two continued running laps around the fountain, Clementine screeching of laughter as she did so and Mitch yelling a bunch of obscenities at her, much to the amusement of the other kids scattered around the courtyard. 

"Can't catch me, slowpoke!" Clementine laughed as she ran towards the gate and tripped, practically launching herself forward a few feet and landing on her chest. Mitch ran over to her and lightly shook her body. 

"This bitch is out of it," he yelled over his shoulder, "Someone come help me!"

"SIKE!" Clementine screeched as she scurried back onto her feet and jogged towards the river. She stopped and dangled the Takis above it and narrowed her eyes at Mitch. "One step closer and I'm dropping your duck fleshlights in there."

"You fucking wouldn't," Mitch said as he started inching closer to her, getting ready to jump her. 

"See these?" Clementine asked as she started swinging the bag from side to side.

"Mhm…" Mitch grumbled. 

Clementine smirked as he got closer. "You want this treat? Well, too bad, because YEET!" She threw the snacks to the other side of the river. Mitch immediately ran up to her and tackled her to the ground, both of them laughing like maniacs. 

"Let go of me, you damn yeti!" Clementine yelled while laughing as Mitch picked her up and threw her over his shoulder and started marching back to the school. 

Mitch shook his head. "Don't think so, shorty. You ruined my damn Takis."

"I am _not_ fucking short!" the musician screamed, but she turned quiet when she noticed a car standing in front of the school's doors. "New blood?" she asked Mitch, who shrugged his shoulders, resulting in the brunette to get the air knocked out of her. "Ouch! Watch it, you giant!"

The pyromaniac continued walking and passed the vehicle parked in front of the gate and also the two kids standing outside of it. One of the kids was a tall girl with long, majestic, almost silky looking blonde hair with the ends of it dyed a bright colour of crimson. She had piercing blue eyes that made Clementine absolutely melt as soon as their gazes met. 

"Evenin', ladies," Mitch nonchalantly said as he walked by, still carrying Clementine on his shoulder. The girl raised an eyebrow at him and the brunette he was carrying, and a smirk formed on her face. She nudged who seemingly was her little brother and laughed, and followed Mitch and Clementine inside. 

As soon as they were on the school grounds, Sophie and Louis came running towards them. "Dude, are you okay, Clem?" Louis asked as soon as Mitch had placed the musician back on the floor, "That was a nasty ass fall."

Clementine rubbed her chest and grunted in pain. "I mean, I'll be fine, but my titties about to be blue, I can tell you that much," she grumbled. 

"OH, NO!" Sophie screeched. 

"What?!"

"Where's the Takis?" The redhead started frantically checking Mitch's and Clementine's pockets and fell down to her knees when she couldn't find them. "Nooo! They have left me!" she dramatically exclaimed as she dropped herself to the floor, "How dare you, Mitch! You were supposed to return my babies to me! How am I supposed to believe you'll ever be a good father to my children?"

"Ex-fucking-scuse me!" Mitch huffed, "This hoe over here yeeted them to the other side of the river! How in the hell am I supp—"

"Yo, I like these people," the new girl said, nudging her brother. Her brother was basically a younger, male version of her. He had the same blonde hair and blue eyes, except his hair was spiked. They both had skin as pale as a ghost, but not in a bad way. Their skin almost seemed to shine in the sunlight and the girl just seemed to radiate some sort of supernatural aura. 

"Yeah, they seem okay," the brother shrugged, "We should probably, you know, _introduce ourselves_ , so they don't think we're some weird lunatics talking about them right where they're standing."

The girl shrugged and walked over towards the group of kids that were all watching her in awe. Except for Mitch, who seemingly wasn't impressed by the blonde's beauty. "Yo! So… My name's Isa. This is my brother Alexander, but we all call him Xander," she said. Even her voice was angelic and Clementine found herself completely mesmerized by her. Isa clearly noticed and smirked as she walked towards the brunette. "Well, hey there shorty. How about we go to the bathrooms and make out?"

"W-What?" Clementine asked, taken aback by her question, "I'm straight, but… yeah. Thanks for the offer?"

" _You're_ straight?" Isa asked, inching closer to Clementine, who gulped and nodded. Isa narrowed her eyes at the musician. "Right… we'll see how long that's gonna last," she mumbled as she went on to introduce herself to the rest of the kids. 

"Sorry about my sister," came a voice from Clementine's right, who jumped because she was so lost in staring at the new girl. She turned to her right and her eyes fell on Xander. "I know she seems kinda scary, intimidating, straight-forward and _very_ sexual, but she isn't that bad once you get to know her," he shrugged, "She's like that _basically_ all the time. She seems a lot worse than she is at first, just give her a day or two and it'll die down."

"She's… definitely all those things," Clementine sighed as her eyes got pulled towards Isa again, who was staring back at her and sent a wink her way. The musician instantly averted her gaze back to Xander. "Yup… _definitely_ all those things."

He shrugged again and curiously tilted his head. "You know, you're like the first person in a year that didn't agree to making out with her within the first ten seconds. Her gaydar is _through the fucking roof_ , so I'm surprised she got it wrong. Or did she?" he said as he narrowed his eyes at Clementine, "Nah, she wasn't. You're _definitely_ curvy, I think?"

"Excuse me?" Clementine glared at him, putting her hands on her hips. 

He cringed. "Oh god no, I wasn't talking about your… _features_ , that's… yikes. I wouldn't. My sister would, but not me. I meant that you're not completely straight. You've got some gay in you," he said, placing his hand on Clementine's shoulder, "That's okay, some people just take a while to figure themselves out, you know? Unless there's nothing to figure out, obviously. Again, that's up to you." He then wandered off towards Louis and started chatting with him. 

_That's one weird-ass fucking family_ ... Clementine thought, slowly shaking her head. When she noticed Isa approaching Violet, her eyes widened. _Oh shit_. She immediately jogged over and stayed quite a distance away from them, but close enough to be within hearing distance so she could rescue Violet out of any uncomfortable situations if necessary. 

"—your hair is very pretty," Isa complimented, putting her hand on Violet's shoulder. _Mhm, I see she's approaching Violet a bit more subtle_ , the brunette mused, shaking her head. 

"Uh… thanks," Violet replied with a small blush. 

"Wanna make out?"

 _Okay, maybe not_...

Violet froze up on the spot, and while Clementine had told herself she'd jump in to help her friend whenever necessary, she kind of wanted to see how this would play out. "Uh… what? No, thanks?" Violet murmured confusedly. 

"But you're lesbian?" Isa asked, "Do you have a girlfriend or something?"

"What? No, I don't," the blonde mumbled. 

"Then why don't you wanna make out?"

"I can't."

"Oh… so you're seeing someone. Shit, I should've just come the first week, but my dumbass parents wanted to go on an extra-long trip. Dumbasses. Now I'm missing out on a cute girl," she mumbled, "Is she cute?"

Violet's nose scrunched up in confusion, as it did more often. "Who?"

"The girl you're seeing."

"Uh…" Violet turned a deep shade of red, "I guess? I wouldn't know. I'm kind of blind, so yeah…"

 _The hell?_ Clementine thought _, Violet's seeing someone? No… that can't be. She's just saying that so Isa buggers off... Right?_

"Well… I guess there's no making out for me then. Ah well, there's more to life than just that. I'll just become friends with you all instead," Isa sighed disappointedly. She looked back over at Clementine, who didn't look away this time. The brunette wasn't about to let some new girl intimidate her and wanted to prove that it was _her_ who was the alpha in this situation. "I think I might get her to break, though," Isa said, gesturing to Clementine. 

Violet chuckled awkwardly. "Who?"

"Oh, right." Isa frowned, shaking her head. "Your short, brunette friend over there."

"I AM NOT FUCKING SHORT!"

Isa turned around and grinned at the musician, wiggling her eyebrows. "Yes, you are. I _will_ fight you on this."

"You're not gonna win that," Violet said flatly, "She's _very_ prominent about it. 'I just haven't hit my growth spurt yet', she always says. 'It'll come,' she says."

"THAT'S BECAUSE I HAVEN'T! AND IT WILL!"

"Sure as hell doesn't look like she's had her growth spurt," Isa snorted. 

"HEY!"

Isa shook her head, unable to hide her amused grin, and walked over to her brother and grabbed him by his ear, dragging him towards the admin building. "Follow along, teeny weenie," she said, her lips curling up into a mischievous grin. 

"You could've just told me to come!" Xander whined, scratching the back of her palm with his nails, "This hurts!"

Isa let go of his ear and shrugged. "Well, usually you act out. Figured this would be easier. And you," she said, pointing at Clementine, "Think about what I said. Analyze any nearly intimate moments you've had with girls and any weird feelings that you may have had during those. We'll speak more about this later. Even if you don't end up liking me, which is totally possible and I wouldn't hate you for it, it could always come in handy. Maybe you'll end up having a thing for your blonde friend over there, instead."

Instead of answering, Clementine just nodded her head dumbly and watched as the two newcomers made their way inside the admin building, presumably to meet up with Ms. Martin. _Oh god,_ Clementine thought, _Ms. Martin is fairly attractive. Poor Ms. Martin, she's not gonna know what hit her when Isa tries to swoon her over_. 

"So…" Louis drawled, waltzing over to Clementine and throwing his arms around her neck, "What do you think about what she had to say?"

"Honestly?" Clementine sighed, watching as Isa disappeared into the building, "She's kinda making me doubt what I thought I knew about myself. I mean, look at her! She's hot as hell and practically an angel! I wouldn't mind sharing a bath with her, that's for damn sure."

"Does that mean you're bi?" Louis questioned, smiling widely as he started tickling Clementine's side, "We've got a new member of the gay family!" he teased, tackling her to the ground, both of them laughing as Clementine tried to fight him off. 

"S-Stop!" Clementine howled, "I don't know! Get the fuck off me, you brownie!"

Mitch snorted. "Did she just call him a fucking _brownie_?"

"Maybe I did," the brunette laughed, "And he's a pot brownie at that."

"I've never even touched weed in my life!" Louis huffed defiantly, fighting Clementine to the ground and straddling her stomach and pinning her arms to the floor. "So far, you're the only one guilty of that!"

Clementine looked up at him intently and bit her lower lip. She cupped his cheeks and stared into his eyes deeply. "Fuck me hard, daddy. _Deep._ "

"Aw, hell!" Louis yelped instantly, jumping off her, "The shit, dude?!" 

"Wow, that was _way_ too easy. You gotta put up more of a fight than that, dreadhead," Clementine grinned as she stood back up, looking down to her clothing. "Bro, these clothes are ruined," she sighed disappointedly, dusting them off once again. She cringed as she spotted all the green stains and the ridiculous amount of dirt that had gotten onto her clothes and underneath her nails. She glanced back up at Louis and grinned. "And me? Smoking weed? I would _neeever_ do that," she smirked. 

"I was literally there!" Louis exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air, "One joint is enough to get the average person high, and you had like six, plus an edible or two! And you're tiny!"

"I AM NOT TINY!"

"Yes, you are!"

"No! If I was tiny, the—"

Clementine was interrupted by a buzz coming from her phone. She sighed and took it out of her pocket, looking at what was seemingly important enough to stop her from ranting. _Blah blah blah, Billie Eilish, blah blah blah, who cares._ She thought, shrugging and placing the phone back in her pocket and then stealing a quick glance at her watch. _6:15 already? Dinner time_. 

"Hey, pube flossers!" she yelled over all the other's voices, "It's time for dinner!"

All of her friends looked at their phones to check the time (well, besides Violet), and they all looked surprised to see that it was already this late. They shrugged and started making their way towards the cafeteria. Clementine strode over to Violet and intertwined their arms, helping her up from her seat and then also making her way inside. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	15. Chapter 15

"I don't get it, dude," Isa groaned as she bit down on her food. 

"Mhm?"

Isa swallowed a huge lump of food at once before continuing. "Everyone here's so boring! The only interesting people I've met are you and your friends. I mean, look at them! Why can't the others be like they are?"

Clementine boredly looked up from her food and scanned around the cafeteria, her gaze landing upon Louis and Mitch doing a thumb war as the large crowd surrounding them cheered loudly. Sophie stood next to Mitch, shaking her head in what seemed to be both secondhand embarrassment _and_ disappointment. Clementine shrugged and took another bite of her sandwich. "I guess they're aight."

"Well, compared to all the others here they're godlike. Not that I'm saying I want to be friends with other people! I really like you all. It's just, this school is really damn dull," Isa sighed, looking around the room again. Clementine noticed that this was something that she does a lot, just simply watching around her and observing the world. But it wasn't just lazily looking around, she seemed to be scrutinizing everything she saw very thoroughly and taking in all the details. It became clear right from the get-go that Isa is _very_ intelligent, and that was immediately reflected in her general behaviour. 

"Any idea where Xander is?" the pale blonde suddenly asked, making Clementine look up at her, "I haven't seen him since we left our room this morning." 

"I dunno. Maybe making out with some girl he met?" Clementine suggested, grabbing her phone and scrolling through it. 

Isa hummed. "Doubt it, he's asexual." 

"Right, so the exact _opposite_ of your flattering ass?"

"Basically, yeah," she chuckled, "I've always found my pansexuality interesting, to be honest. Mainly because I don't even try to get it with people that aren't girls anymore because sex with girls is just _so_ much better. They actually know what they're doing, you know?"

Clementine hummed in understanding as she looked up from her phone towards Louis and Mitch, whose thumb war had now turned into a full-on wrestling match. "I can see that, I guess," she shrugged nonchalantly, "There's this guy I once slept with once, and… yeah. He struggled, we'll leave it at that. It's safe to say I did _not_ invite him over again. Tiny dick, too. Poor fella." 

"How tiny we speaking, though?"

"I don't remember, I was drunk. I just remember thinking, 'Yo, this dick tiny, bro.' But I got a shag, so in the end, it was worth it, I guess," Clementine said, shrugging her shoulders and putting her attention back on Mitch, who was now sat atop Louis, tickling his sides roughly while Sophie was trying to break them apart. 

"Oh, there he is." Isa looked in the direction of the entrance of the cafeteria, where Xander was just passing through. His face was a mixture of confusion and glee when he spotted his sister. He came walking over and took a seat next to Clementine. 

"Dude, I'm so confused," he said, shaking his head. 

Isa eyed him curiously. "Why? What happened?"

"There's this girl in my math class and she asked me if I could help her with her homework during lunch because she didn't understand it. So, we went to her room and I tried doing homework with her, but she kept acting really weird. Eventually, she just got pissed and told me to leave." He shook his head. 

Isa grinned broadly at him. "You realize she was trying to smash, right?"

"She was what?"

"Dude, I realize you're asexual, but you can't be _that_ oblivious to social cues," Isa sniggered, "Let me guess, she went '...or we could do something else,' while biting her lip about a hundred times?"

Xander's expression went blank for a little bit, his eyebrows curling into a frown. "Oh. She did."

Isa just rolled her eyes, which snapped towards Sophie as she came walking towards the table while dragging Mitch along by his ears. "Babe, that hurts! Stop!" he whined, only resulting in Sophie shaking her head disappointedly. 

"Mitch, you have to stop acting like such a—"

"Where's Violet?" Clementine interrupted, looking around her and failing to locate the blonde that was usually sat across from her. 

"I don't know, it's not the first time she's been absent during breaks," Louis said to her, who had now also returned to the table, "I know that during most breaks you're practicing on your instruments, but it's not the first time she isn't here. It's been on and off for about… two weeks, I think?" 

Clementine raised an eyebrow. She knew Violet wasn't exactly _the_ most social person, but during the time they've known her she was never one to simply _avoid_ them when she had the chance to be with them instead. Clementine pondered for a second before speaking up again. "Do you feel like it's a temporary thing?"

Louis raised his shoulders. "No idea. She's been at it for two weeks, so I wouldn't think so. Unless it's a permanent temporary thing. Then it'd be temporary, even though it's permanent, but it'd still be temporary." 

"You're a dumbass."

"You're the one who asked if it was temporary _after_ I said she's been at it for two weeks!"

" _You're_ the one who never even bothered mentioning it!"

"HOW WOULD YOU KNOW I NEVER DID? YOU'RE ALWAYS IN YOUR DAMN ROOM PLAYING YOUR FUCKING PIANO!"

"WELL, IT'S NOT MY FAULT THAT YOU IMPLIED TH—"

"Clem," Isa sighed, "Calm down…"

"No, fuck you! He's a dumb brownie bitch th—"

Isa roughly grabbed Clementine's lower jaw between her thumb and index finger and forcefully pulled the brunette's face in her direction, staring into her eyes intently. "Clementine? Quiet, now."

"O-Okay…" Clementine gulped. 

"Good."

Isa loosened her grip but continued glaring at Clementine for a few more seconds, then chuckling as she shook her head and focusing back on her food. The musician blinked a few times in confusion, trying to process what Isa just did to her. She bit her bottom lip and sighed, staring at the pale blonde girl in front of her. _Isa is definitely something_ , she thought, chuckling lightly. 

The past two weeks have been quite something, especially with the arrival of Alexander and Isa. The latter of the two had immediately found herself a spot in the tight-knit group of friends we've all grown accompanied with. Xander had made his own few friends with some other students that were about the same age as him, and he found himself spending most of his time with them. Which, obviously, took a weight of Isa's shoulders, as she'd made it her 'objective' to look after her little brother as much as she could. Now obviously not having to do that nearly as much anymore, she spends practically all of her free time with the group of friends that have recently dubbed themselves 'EMA.' Well, _Clementine_ dubbed it EMA, but she wouldn't tell anyone what it means. 

The musician's gaze wandered towards Xander, who looked to be having a very intense conversation with some girl about something, while also trying to stop a guy who Clementine knew was called Justin from jumping from table to table to prove his undying love for another girl who seemed to be _very_ unimpressed by his actions. 

Clementine chuckled as he watched Xander's efforts go to waste when Justin leaped towards the other table, one of his feet landing on a Twinkie wrap and sending him flying forward, landing on top of the girl he was trying to impress. _Better luck next time, buddy_ , Clementine sniggered to herself. 

Xander facepalmed and shook his head disappointedly, much to the brunette's amusement. Xander wasn't rowdy or a troublemaker in any sense. In fact, he was the _exact_ opposite, much unlike his sister, who _most definitely_ wasn't much of a saint. She talked up teachers that she didn't like and she wreaked havoc every chance she got, as long as it was justified. 

But she never got punished for anything, since she knew how to play the rules' boundaries and did it in such a way that she never really broke any of them, or at least not severely enough for the teachers to be able to punish her. Isa did get into detention, however. Why, Clementine wasn't exactly sure. Too many things were on the list of things that _could_ be the reason. 

Isa's delinquent behavior had led to multiple hilarious moments during classes. Well, Clementine thought they were hilarious, most teachers and some of the hard-working students didn't. Clementine has always been very creative with her words when cussing out people, but Isa was the exact opposite of that. Her comments were so remarkably dry that the musician couldn't help burst out laughing at almost all of them. 

<<<

_"Ms. Beckers, you're not allowed to chew gum in class."_

_Isa boredly looked up from her notebook and stared at the teacher for a few seconds, before saying, "Eat me," and looking back down uninterested. From behind her, the blonde heard Clementine let out a loud snort, causing a smirk to form on her face._

_"Ms. Beckers, language please."_

_"English."_

_"Ms. Beckers! You seemed like an exemplary student upon arrival!" Ms. Goodman gasped, shaking her head, "Where is all of this coming from?"_

_"Honestly? Lack of pussy, dude. This school's as dry as a damn desert."_

_The teacher sighed and walked up to her, crouching down beside her table. "If you keep this behavior up, I will have to put you in detention, Ms. Beckers."_

_"So fucking what? Put me in detention, maybe I'll find some vagina on the way there."_

>>>

Clementine grinned as she recalled the memory. _Honestly?_ **_That_ ** _was most likely the reason she was put detention_ , she thought, putting her hand in front of her mouth to stifle a yawn as she stretched her body. She lazily glanced around the cafeteria and her eyes shot towards the entrance when she spotted a flash of blonde. Smiling lightly when she noticed Violet, she stood up and made her way over to her to help her navigate towards their table. 

“Hey, Vi. Nice of you to finally show up!” Clementine mocked jokingly, tapping the blonde’s shoulder lightly to grab her attention. Her eyes widened in surprise when Violet faintly flinched at her contact before coughing to cover up the movement. After a few coughs, she turned to Clementine with her lips slightly upturned in a timid grin.

_Okay, THAT was fucking weird. Did I do something wrong?_

“Hey, Clem, sorry I’m a little late, I got caught up with something big,” Violet spoke, her hands fidgeting with her cane more and more as the seconds ticked by. Undeterred by the blondes odd ticks, Clementine gently connected their arms together and started their journey back to the group.

“Everything all good, Vi?” Clementine asked while maneuvering through the crowded lunchroom, determined to keep anyone and anything from bumping or knocking into the girl she was holding onto. The brunette always took her time to avoid any unnecessary risks when it came to Violet and her condition when she was helping her. Not that it ever bothered Clementine, she always felt sort of protective over the blonde since getting to know her.

Clementine was just happy they were able to smooth things over as well as they did.

Violet nodded at the other girl’s question, offering no other explanation or reasoning for her late behavior. Muttering a simple, “Okay then,” Clementine bites the inside of her cheek to avoid any accusatory remarks to fly out accidentally, which is how she usually reacted whenever she didn’t get the answers she wanted right off the bat.

It’s not that Clementine didn’t trust Violet, but she would be lying to herself if she told herself that Violet was acting her usual self. Louis even said that she had been distancing herself for about two weeks now and Clementine couldn’t figure out what was causing Violet to act like this, especially around herself of all people.

_What the fuck could’ve happened in the past two weeks? Am I missing something here?_

Before the amber-eyed teen could continue her thoughts, she found herself drawing nearer to her group’s table. She knew they were getting closer when she saw everyone shaking their heads in disappointment at Xander, who sat in his seat, perplexed as to why he was getting this reaction.

“Wait… so you’re telling me that she was trying to send me a sign just by touching my _arm_?” Xander asked the group incredulously, much to his sister’s dismay and embarrassment. 

“Yeah dude, how did you not know she was doing?” Louis questioned with a look of disbelief and shock playing on his features. “I mean come on dude, I bat for the same team and I still know that!” 

Xander shifted uncomfortably in his seat at this new discovery. “I just thought there was something on my arm that I missed or something.”

Louis was about to retort until the familiar baseball cap of his best friend entered his vision. “Speaking of batting for the same team, I see you managed to safely escort our dear Violet back to us! I’m so proud of you!” Louis wiped a fake tear from his eye, sliding to his left to make room for the two girls to sit themselves down.

“Yeah yeah, go jump on a faulty trampoline and land in a barrel of used toothbrushes, Stevie Wonder,” Clementine grumbled as she sat down and began to munch on her food without feeling any guilt now that Violet was accounted for and with them once again. “Hey Violet, want us to get you anything? Louis is buying.”

“Excuse me? I am?” Louis asked, shocked at his sudden nonconsensual generosity. “I don’t remember being anyone’s sugar daddy but Jamie’s!”

“First off, that's hot as hell. Second off, yes you are because if you don’t, I’ll just take your wallet myself,” Clementine responded with a smirk.

“We-” Louis began.

“And we _both_ know you can’t win against me, Sideshow Bob.” 

Louis threw his hands up in defeat. “Alright, chill. I know when I’ve been beaten. Besides, I’d never be so heartless as to turn down helping our resident flower in her time of obvious starvation. Whatcha want, bueno Violeto?” Louis inquired, already stood up and his hand reaching into his coat for his wallet.

Violet, who had been completely silent until this point only shook her head at his question. “Nothing, I’m not that hungry right now, Lou.”

The group shared a look of concern at Violet’s words. It was _really_ unlike Violet to turn down food, especially when Louis was the one paying for the meal. Louis sat back down and nudged Clementine’s shoulder, hoping she had any answers to their concerns. The brunette only swallowed her food and shrugged her shoulders, unknowing of what was wrong with her blonde friend, much to Sophie’s displeasure. 

“Violet… is everything okay with you? You know you can talk to us, right?” Sophie said softly, her friends all in agreement as they continue to watch the blonde shifting under their intense collective gazes. Their eyes baring into her soul like her skin was made of glass and her heart and soul were on display for the entire world to see and mock her for. It made her whole world feel like she was being enveloped in a room that was slowly losing oxygen with every second she remained there.

Violet released a breath she didn’t know she was holding in before addressing the elephant in the room. Hopefully believable enough to have them drop their interrogation altogether.

“L-Like I told Clementine on the way over here, I’m all good. Everything is okay,” Violet muttered gracelessly, almost as if she was trying to convince herself as much as she tried to convince her heavily concerned friends.

Sophie stared at the blonde for a few moments before she shook her head lightly. “Violet, don’t take this the wrong way bu-” 

“Look, if she says she’s fine then she obviously doesn’t have anything to talk about,” Clementine chimed in suddenly, much to the surprise of the group, Violet astonished more than the rest.

Clementine wiped her mouth with a napkin before putting an arm around Violet’s shoulders, feeling the blonde momentarily tense up even more before staying stiff to the brunette’s touch, much to her dismay.

“She’s a big girl and not as helpless as you guys are thinking. If Violet ever had an issue with any of us or had anything she needed help with, then I’d trust that she would come to us with no hesitation,” Clementine said matter-of-factly. She then turned her head to the girl in question, who looked the exact opposite of _fine_ but Clementine didn’t want to go against her own words at this very moment. “Right, _Vi_?”

Violet continued to look at the voice resonating to her left, reluctantly letting herself enjoy the warmth of Clementine’s arm around her shoulders and her body being so close to the brunettes. Using her better judgement, Violet blocked out those thoughts and instead decided to focus on Rosie’s soft fur between her fingers as she spoke.

“Exactly. If I wasn’t A-okay, I’d come to you guys immediately,” Violet unconvincingly agreed, her cadence not exactly the most believable to the other teens, but per Clementine’s request almost all of them decided to drop the subject there. Except for one auburn haired introvert.

“Do you promise?” Brody said softly, Violet’s ears perking up at her voice. The blonde turned to her roommate and gave her a gentle smile with a thumbs up to assuage her worries.

“I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	16. Chapter 16

_"What do you want from me?_

_Why don't you run from me?_  
 _Why are wondering?_ _  
What do you know?_

 _Why aren't you scared of me?_  
 _Why do you care for me?_  
 _When we all fall asleep,_ _  
Where do we g—"_

"Dude!"

"WHAT THE FUCK, BRO?!" Clementine screamed as she clutched her heart, trying to regain a steady breathing pattern after Louis nearly scared the life out of her by slamming open the door of her room out of nowhere. 

"Is that _Billie Eilish_ I'm hearing?" He startled tickling Clementine roughly before she had the chance to answer, and she broke out in a fit of laughter. 

"Get the hell off me, you nig-nog!" Clementine said, screeching with laughter as she tried to fight Louis off. 

"You didn't answer my question!" Louis teased, poking the girl in her ribs roughly. 

Clementine pushed the tall boy away from her and sat down on her bed. " _YES,_ that was Billie Eilish? So what?!"

"Didn't say it was bad," Louis clarified, "I just find it odd that my best _metalhead_ friend is singing along to Billie Eilish."

Clementine shrugged. "Whatever. I listened to her first like a week ago, and for some reason, her music really appeals to me, I don't know why. You can tell from a thousand miles away that she's _incredibly_ talented, too. And, she's cute as hell. That's a plus as well."

Louis cooed. "Oooh… And you like her because she's talented or because she's cute? Which is it? Does Clementine have a cruuush?" 

"No, I do _not_. And even if I did, what would I be able to do about? It would only make me feel like trash."

"Facts. Anyway… you're not in denial about liking girls anymore? Because that shit was annoying as hell," Louis commented, walking over towards her piano and sitting down behind it. He turned it on and started playing up and down a few scales as he awaited an answer. 

"I guess I'm not, no," Clementine sighed, "How the hell is it annoying? It's not my fault I just took some time figuring myself out, Jesus Christ."

"Don't drag Jesus into this, because you're sinning big time with your gayness," Louis said, holding up his index finger and waggling it at the girl in front of him, "Anyway, you see. James and I had this bet about whether you had some gay in you or not. He thought you didn't, whereas I knew _for sure_ that you did. We bet 50 bucks on it, and I guess I'm about to go collect my money," Louis explained, switching from the C minor scale to the B major scale. 

"You had a _bet_ on my personal love life thing, or whatever it's called? Do you not have a conscience? Why are you betting on your best friend's confusing feelings?" Clementine scoffed. 

"Oh, I do have a conscience, shorty. And my conscience likes cash. So sad, feel bad."

"Louis—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You're not short."

"This _one_ time I wasn't about to complain about that, you do it for me." Clementine rolled her eyes playfully and walked over towards her desk. "Why are you here, dreadhead? Anything in particular you want to talk about or did you just want to talk shit about my sexuality and the fact that I found myself liking for an artist that isn't heavy metal?"

"Yes _and_ yes. I was going to tell you that I wanted to join you at soccer practice to watch you today, but I got distracted. So, Clemendoodle, will you let me watch your soccer practice or are you about to banish me even farther into the depths of the best friend zone?" Louis asked as he got down on his knees in front of Clementine, balling his fists together and holding them at his chin, "Please, I'll do anything."

The musician rolled her eyes as she grinned. "You're ridiculous. Of course, you can come. Violet's usually there too, so you'll have someone to keep you company."

"Why's Violet there?" Louis questioned, "She's as blind as a sack of potatoes at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, it's not like she can watch you."

Again, Clementine merely shrugged as a response to his question. "I dunno, she's always been adamant about joining me. So, who am I to stop her? I like talking to her whenever I'm on a small break or whatnot."

"Mhm, right," Louis grinned, shaking his head, "Anyway, I know you were all engrossed in your Billie Eilish music and trying to figure out the parts on your guitar _by ear_ , which I still don't understand how you even manage to do that, it's like, impossible, but your soccer practice starts in like five minutes. Surprise!"

The brunette's eyes widened and she looked at the clock hanging from her wall. "Fuck!" She immediately started collecting all of her sports clothes and threw them into her bag, along with a water bottle and a Tim Tam bar, which she'd won from Louis when she'd completed a dare that he thought she wouldn't do. 

_"Clem, you see those two guys over there?" Louis asked as they walked back towards the dorms from the sports field. Clementine shot out of her daze and glanced towards her right._

_“God damn you,” a long-haired student said. The brunette raises an eyebrow at the two boys arguing. One had long hair going past his shoulders, while the other boy was noticeably taller. She stopped walking and listened in._

_“Dabbing is a sin, you’d know that if you would stop doing it! You’re going to hell!” the black-haired, bespectacled hippie said in an annoyed tone. His friend clearly enjoying the look of disappointment and relishing in the shorter boy’s pain._

_“Au contraire, my friend. I’m already going to hell, so why not make the trip more enjoyable? It doesn't matter if you sin once or sin a million times, so_ **_fuck it_ ** _,” the tall boy spoke, grinning at the immense frustration radiating off his friend's face._

_"Aight, if you go up to them and dab in that hippie's face I'll get you anything you want the next time we go to the grocery store. You fucking won't," Louis dared Clementine, who shook her head._

_"Shouldn't have said that, dreadhead."_

_Clementine smirked and walked up to them and faces the guy caught dabbing. "Dude, your dabbing game is hella weak. Watch this."_

_The brunette proceeded to hit the hardest dab she ever had, holding still in the position for about twenty seconds before walking back towards Louis, who was watching the scene unfold with her mouth agape._

_“You didn't actually do that… Oh my God,” Louis spoke sadly._

_"Those subordinates need to be shown who the superior dabber is. I can't let some random Chewbacca lookin' ass take away my seat on the throne of the realm of the dab Gods. Also, you owe me Tim Tams the next time we go shopping."_

_“I don’t think that long-haired guy is taking it well…” Louis pointed to the dab-hater, watching as he had his head in his hands and swearing quietly, much to the delight of the dabber who is still stood in shock at Clementine’s dab from the Heavens._

"Louis, get off your ass!" Clementine said as she hit him in the back of her head with the container that held Peanut's fish food, "We're about to be late, for fuck's sake!"

"Excuse me, you wouldn't even have _been_ there in the first place if it wasn't for my flamboyant ass coming all the way here!"

"I have _no idea_ what you're talking about, dickhead. Now, get a move on!"

Louis shook his head as he gave up and raised off the piano seat and walked towards the door, holding it open for the brunette. "Got your phone?" he asked, biting the insides of his cheeks to hide his amused smile when Clementine's eyes widened and she ran towards her bed and yanked her phone off it and stuffed it in her pocket. "Okay, _now_ we can go," Louis said, leaving through the door and closing it after his best friend had made her way outside as well. "Do we need to pick up Violet?"

"Nah, she always shows up by herself. I still don't really understand how she manages to do it, traversing through the forest on her own like that. I mean, she has Rosie, but that dog can only help her so much," Clementine said, only now remembering that she'd be able to see Violet during her practice too. That thought made her smile. 

"I feel you," Louis replied, making sure not to trip over the many roots of trees that came piercing through the old gravel path, "Makes sense that you think that, I know I wouldn't be able to do that, walking through a forest like this without eyesight."

"Well, yeah. But you're _you_."

"Aw, love you, Clemmy," Louis spoke as he pinched the right cheek of the girl beside him. 

Clementine grumbled softly. "Love you too, asshole."

"Oh my god! She actually said it!" Louis exclaimed as he started jumping around frantically and did a small dance, "She actually said it, oh my! I think hell might have frozen over!"

"Oh my Goood, stooop," Clementine drawled, hiding her face in her hands. 

"You love me, you said it! Oh, I think I might just have a heart attack!"

"Louis, your face looks like something I'd draw with my left hand. Now, shut the hell up before I make you."

"Aren't you ambidextrous?"

"That's beside the fucking point!" Clementine growled, "See! This is why I never say sappy shit to you. You make a big fucking deal out of it and proceed to tell everyone you see that I'm a mushball for the next few days!"

"You are a mushball at heart, and who cares? That's a good thing! Where did the Clementine that didn't give a shit about what anyone thinks go?"

"I swear to God, I could strangle you right now. Get your ass over to the bleachers, and if I ever hear as much as a peep from you, I will come over and personally shove your shoe sole down your throat as I sing the lyrics to The Power of Love as loud as I can," Clementine threatened, and then walked off with a huff and ran onto the soccer field. 

Louis waited for a few seconds and then yelled after her. "YOU LOVE ME, THOUGH!"

"FUCK YOU!"

Louis grinned broadly as he walked towards the bleachers and found himself a seat that allowed him to view the fid perfectly. He noticed that Violet hadn't shown up yet, which he didn't find surprising considering that the blonde could always have something holding her up. He reassured himself that everything was fine that that Violet was probably just late. 

"MITCH AND SOPHIE! GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE AND DO SOMETHING USEFUL!" 

"Oh, boy…" Louis smirked when he could see the frustration radiating off Clementine's face even from this far away. 

"How in the absolute chickendicks are we ever going to get better at this fucking sport when you two make out underneath the bleachers!?" Clementine admonished, poking Sophie in her chest with her index finger aggressively. She turned away from the guilty-looking redhead and faced the boy next to her. "And Mitch, I _totally_ saw where your hand was. You better fucking wash it before you ever touch me again."

Clementine scoffed and walked off to meet with the rest of the team. None of the other kids on the team were ones that the musician had known before she joined the team. She'd talked to some of them before, but the majority are students she doesn't share her classes with. Also, as soon as she joined the team it became clear that she was both more dominant than the team captain, and a better leader also. So, they took a vote and now Clementine is the captain.

"My hands weren't anywhere!" Mitch defended as he ran after Clementine, holding them up. "Look! They're dry!" 

"Mitch, I'm not fucking stupid. You literally had two fingers up her vagina. Now, go wash your hands or I'll dismiss you from practice."

Mitch grumbled a few inaudible swears as he angrily stomped towards the changing rooms, Clementine amusedly watching him as he did his walk of shame. Meanwhile, Sophie's face was burning red from embarrassment. "Anything to say for yourself, Blowphie?" Clementine asked, poking the redhead's side with her elbow. 

In return, Sophie hid her face in her hands and stumbled over towards the other side of the field, where the rest of the team was waiting for them to show up while playing a penalty shootout. Clementine flashed Louis an annoyed face to express her frustration over Mitch and Sophie's action, and Louis gave her a thumbs up in return. 

"HANDLED IT LIKE A TRUE PROFESSIONAL!" he yelled, smirking. 

"FUCK YOU, AGAIN!"

"YOU WISH, TINY TEMPER!"

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST CALL ME?"

"SORRY, NOT SORRY, MIDGET!"

"ONE MORE WORD AND I'M FUCKING STRANGLING YOU!"

"WHAT IF THAT TURNS ME ON?"

"I'LL DO IT EVEN HARDER!"

"OH, YEAH?! CHOKE ME, MOMMY!"

"I FUCKING WILL!"

Louis grinned when Clementine flipped him off. He absolutely loves getting Clementine all worked up. _Frustratedly, of course! Not sexually, I'd never!_ He scanned around himself, his face scrunching up when he doesn't notice Violet sitting anywhere. He did notice someone else walking up to him, though. 

"What's up, Isa?"

"Not much, just came here to watch Clementine and Sophie work out in those cute ass uniforms."

Louis snorted. "Right, you have fun doing that. I'm gonna try to find Violet. She's usually here but hasn't shown up this time."

"Okay, kewlio," Isa said, shrugging and putting her attention on the girls that were now running laps around the field.

As Louis made his way back towards the dorms, he wondered why Violet wouldn't have shown up. Her and Clementine had previously made it up and the blonde hadn't been purposely avoiding the musician since then. Did it have something to do with the obvious crush Violet has on Clementine? Did she give up on it? _High-key,_ _they'd be so cute together, it's actually disgusting. Like, I've been waiting for fifteen chapters and they haven't even kissed yet! What the hell, man?_

The boy shook his head in dissatisfaction and continued his travels to the dorms, wondering if there was anything useful he could do while he was there. _Maybe I could go see James for a second, it's been way too long since I've seen him. It's been like fifteen minutes, I don't think I can wait any longer!_ Louis happily walked towards the dormitories, satisfied with the goals he set for himself. _I guess I'll stop by James' first since Violet and I actually have to go somewhere. Wouldn't wanna keep a lady waiting, would I?_

He first went up the stairs towards the males' dorms and knocked on James' door, who opened it after twenty seconds of quiet shuffling behind the door. As soon as he saw who had knocked, he immediately smiled warmly. "Oh! Hey, honey bunny."

Louis instantly felt his cheeks burning. "Hey, Jamie," he said, before letting himself in and hugging James from behind, "How is you?"

"I is fine, thank you," James chuckled, quickly melting into the hug, "What's up?"

"There is something, but I also just wanted to come see my boy really quick before I have to check up on Violet. Anyway, you owe me 50 bucks. Clementine admitted to being a bean flicker, which means you have to pay up."

"It's been twenty minutes since you last saw me, honey bunny."

"I know right! Way too long." Louis shook his head jokingly and James snorted lightly, "Now, money please." James rolled his eyes and took out his wallet, handing Louis a 50 dollar bill. Louis beamed at it proudly. "That's being used for our next date," he grinned. 

James rolled his eyes. "Of course it is. Anyway, what's up with Violet, then?"

Louis immediately frowned. "Well, she didn't show up to Clementine's soccer practice, which is weird. Apparently, she's always there. I'm just checking up on her to make sure she's alright."

James hummed softly. "Mhm, that's weird. Especially with the friendship those two have you'd expect her to be there."

"Exactly, it's really weird. Anyway, thanks for the huggies. I'm gonna check on her really quick."

"You're welcome, and good luck!"

Louis smiled at the boy in front of him and quickly pecked his lips and then made his way outside the room. He let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding and walked downstairs towards Violet and Brody's room. He knocked on the door softly and slightly nudged it open. "Vi, you in here?"

"No, she's not," Brody answered, "Why? Is anything wrong?"

The pianist opened the door fully and stepped inside. "I don't think so, but it's just that she usually shows up to watch Clementine's practice and she didn't this time. I'm sure it's nothing, though. Maybe she's being tutored or something. Thanks, Brodes."

"No problem, have a good one. See ya."

"Bye." Louis closed the door and let out yet another sigh. _Where the hell is she? It was never like her to just disappear, but she's been doing it more and more over the past few days._

As he strode towards the exit of the dorms, he heard a faint voice coming from Sophie's room that he recognized. He walked closer to the door and Violet speaking behind it. _Oh, she's just hanging out with Sophie. That's cool, then. I'll leave them to it._ He turned around and exited the building and swiftly made his way back towards the soccer field. 

***

"Hey, Lou! Where did you go?" Clementine yelled from the field as she came running towards him. 

"Just went to check on Violet really quick since she didn't show up," Louis clarified, throwing Clementine a water bottle as soon as she was near, "But she was hanging out with Sophie, so I left her alone."

"What's up? I heard my name?"

Louis looked to his left and saw Sophie approaching him. _What the hell? How did she get from her room to here so fast? Maybe in her Batmobile? Oh my god, Sophie is Batman! No, wait. That can't be, she would've told me._

"Louis?"

_Okay… maybe she went Super Saiyan and naruto ran all the way over here at the speed of light? No, that can't be it either, it's Sophie we're talking about here. She would definitely stumble over a tree stump if she traveled at light speed. Uhm…_

"Louis!?"

_Oh! Maybe she has a trap door that connects from her room to the sports field to save time? That'd be super sweet.... but also expensive as hell, probably. Wait… how come she has one and I don't?!_

"LOUIS?"

_Wait, no! Sophie was here before I went back, too! What the hell? Okay, so what if Sophie secretly has a third twin named Sofi who switches places with her sister every day and effectively communicates with her so they can both coexist within our group as one unit. That'd be pretty neat… but where would poor Sofi sleep at night? Sophie and Minerva wouldn't make her sleep on the floor, would they?! That's so mean to Sofi… wait, THAT'S why Minerva has a double bed! It's so Sofi doesn't have to sleep on the floor! Oh my God, it all makes sense now!_

"HEY, FUCKHEAD!"

"Mhm, what?"

"You good?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Cool. Now, explain. Violet's hanging out with Sophie while Sophie is right here? How does that make sense?"

"Well, I do have some theories I could share with you. For one, I think there might in fact be a secret third twin tha-"

"Okay, stop. You're being ridiculous. What are you talking about?"

"I'm not being ridiculous! I swear to God there's a third twin they never told us about!" Louis defended himself, "I was over at the dorms to go find Violet since I thought it was weird that she didn't show up. I visited James for a short second and then went to find her, but it was just Brody in their room. So, I walked back to the exit past Sophie's room and I heard Violet's voice from coming inside. So, I was like, 'Well, since it's Sophie's room then she's hanging out with Sophie, I guess I'll leave them to it,' but now Sophie is right here, so that means that there's a third twin, right? My theory is tha-" 

"Louis, shut your dumbass up."

"Ouch." He dramatically put his hand over his heart.

Clementine let out a long sigh. "Louis, you must be fucking high. Sophie's right here, why would Violet be in her room? I mean, it's not like she's gonna be in there to hang out with Minerva."

"Besides, that wouldn't even make sense," Sophie added, "Minerva said she was seeing someone today."

"So… why the hell is she in Sophie's room then?" Clementine asked, pinching the bridge of her nose, "This doesn't make sense in the slightest. Like, I'm not stupid and I can usually make sense out of these types of things, but right now I just can't, or something. It's weird. Something isn't right. Maybe she left something in Sophie's room and went to get it and was talking to Rosie? But I feel that's kind of a stretch."

Louis hummed in approval. "Could be. She talks to that dog a lot and to be honest, it's very adorable."

"Fuck it, we'll see later. We have to finish practice. Those guys over there are getting rowdy," Clementine said, wrapping up the conversation as she pointed towards Mitch holding Trent upside down and attempting to hang him from the crossbar by the laces of his shoes. 

As soon as Sophie spotted Mitch's actions, her eyes immediately widened and she started running towards him. "BABE! What the hell are you doing?! Put him down!"

"Hell no, I'm not putting him down! This fucker was staring at your ass!"

"Oh babe, you should've said that earlier! Here, I'll help you lift him." The redhead dashed over to the other side of the field quickly and helped Mitch lift Trent upside down while Justin tied Trent's laces to the crossbar.

"Y'know, Sophie has really opened up a lot more ever since she and Mitch became a thing," Clementine said as she smiled at the two, "I really love it. She's finally crawled out of that little shell of hers."

"And you say you're _not_ a mushball?"

"Shut the hell up, swizzle-stick!"

"Your wish is my command, Tinkerbell."

"Fuck you."

"Yes, please."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	17. Chapter 17

_“W-What? Violet, I… I don't know?”_

_That was the last thing Violet heard from Clementine before she shut the door in her face and leaned her back against the smooth wooden separator. Violet knew Clementine’s answer would have been a possibility, but she would be lying to herself if she said that she expected it from the brunette of all people. Clementine was abrasive and brash to everyone she came across yet she would always take a softer tone with Violet. Even when they were first properly introduced to each other, Clementine made it her mission to apologize and rectify what she said in the past when she thought Violet had an apparent “staring problem”._

_A sudden dampness runs down her cheeks as the thoughts and memories play on repeat in her mind. Touching her cheek with her hand, Violet is taken aback when she fully realizes that she’s been crying; for how long however, Violet wasn’t sure. All she could focus on were the memories that flooded her mind no matter how hard she tried to ignore them and the sounds of her sniffling and sobbing as she crumpled to the floor in a heap. Her knees pressing against her chest and her head buried in her arms as the sobs became uncontrollable. Violet hoped and wished that Clementine would hear her cries and knock on her door and demand entrance to help the girl she had crushed only moments before._

_But she never came._

_Instead, Violet only heard a familiar pair of footsteps step away from her door and into their own dorm, their door shutting only moments later much to Violet’s agony. As Rosie began to whine and push herself onto the heartbroken girl’s lap, she couldn’t help but smile gently at the dog’s antics to cheer her up._

_“At least we still have each other, Rosie. I’d take you over any human anyday.” Violet croaked out while scratching Rosie behind her ear, earning herself a quick cheek lick from the happy pup in question. Even with her trusty dog to help push away her dark feelings, she couldn’t help but remember the sound of Clementine’s voice and her protective nature, even after the pain and turmoil the girl inflicted on Violet._

_“Well… maybe not_ any _human, Rose.”_

*******

“Lou, sweetie, I know you’re trying your hardest to figure out the whole ‘Who was Violet talking to’ mystery, but did you get any sleep last night?” Brody asked the darker-skinned boy worriedly. They were both sitting at a picnic table in the courtyard waiting for their group to arrive so they could go over their classes and plan a potential weekend hangout at Louis’. However, Louis had other things on his mind. 

Since speaking to Sophie and Clementine about Violet’s presence in the redhead’s room during soccer practice he couldn’t help but think that their initial thoughts were far from correct. He only managed to get about two hours of sleep last night and he still didn’t have any answers that made sense. His brain went from the most simple explanations to the most inane, but every single explanation he thought of had some loophole or part that didn’t add up.

“I don’t need sleep, _mom_! I need answers! None of this makes sense.” Louis shook his head in frustration, his dreads flopping around in a cascade of brown. “Why would Violet be in Sophie’s room and talking if she just left something in there? I mean, you were hanging out there too, even after the party, right Brodes?”

“Well yeah, I left after Clem and Violet because I wanted to talk to Soph for a bit more,” Brody explained, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly. 

“So, bear with me here, ” Louis began, standing up and pacing back and forth with his hands moving around expressively, “If by some odd notion Violet happened to leave something at Sophie's, wouldn’t you have seen it since you were there long after she left?” Louis questioned the girl, who placed her chin in her hand as a result.

“I suppose that makes some sense, but what’s your point Lou?” 

“My point, dear Watson, is that there were ample opportunities for you or Sophie to find what Violet _supposedly_ lost way before she went back to the room! So, why would she suddenly have a need to go back to Sophie’s room after all this time?” Louis continued to haphazardly explain his thought process to the auburn haired girl.

Brody took in everything Louis said and closed her eyes. The memories of that night came back to her vividly and at no moment did she recall seeing Violet bring anything special or distinct she could've forgotten. This all started after the party so to Brody, this was something more than just a case of a misplaced item. All of a sudden, Brody’s eyes widened in realization and fear when a specific detail had yet to be fully explained.

“Louis… I may have a theory.”

Louis stopped his rambling mid sentence and threw himself at the picnic table, sitting himself back down with a serious expression on his face. “Spill, Watson.”

“Well, are you sure you figured out every possible scenario for _everyone_ who was at the party?” Brody rubbed her hand down her arm anxiously as the thought escaped her lips.

Louis furrowed his brow in confusion as he counted on his fingers. “Uh, Brody I may not be the sharpest lightbulb in the cookie cabinet, but I know how to count. I have theories for all four of you.”

“Four?”

“Yeah, you, Soph, Clem, and Violet. What’s the big deal?”

Brody shook her head discontentedly at Louis’ apparent mistake. Although it wasn’t entirely his fault, it’s not like they spoke much about that incident since the party. Brody and Sophie agreed to drop the situation altogether to avoid any unnecessary conflict or argument to arise in their group. However, something stood out plain as day in Brody’s mind before the brash brunette demanded this person’s leave.

“I knew it. Louis you’re forgetting someone pretty important in your theory hunting. Minerva was at the party,” Brody said softly, not wanting to believe she was involved in Violet’s odd behavior in any way. The auburn looked up at Louis momentarily, surprise taking over her features when she noticed no sign of worry or fear on Louis’ face. Instead, there was only mild disappointment as he smoothed out the left arm of his trenchcoat absentmindedly. 

“Oh, well even if she was at the party, Sophie already gave Minerva an alibi for that day so she’s pretty much out. Thank our lucky stars, am I right? I mean, could you imagine what would happen if Clem found out Violet was hanging out with Minnie of all people? That’d be an Academy Award winning ass kicking for sure!”

“She did?” Brody questioned, bewildered at the surprise revelation that was just dropped on her. “What was it?”

Louis looked up at the cloudless summer sky above him as he racked his brain for that detail. He closed his eyes to focus solely on his thoughts, trying to ignore the cacophony of voices around the courtyard intruding on his super sleuthing skills. Opening his eyes a few moments later, Louis was upset when he discovered that he couldn’t remember Minerva’s reasoning. He refused to meet Brody’s gaze and instead focused on the tall trees above him, hoping the change in scenery would help him in some way.

_Okay… this isn’t good. What was Minnie doing during Sophie and Clem’s soccer practice? It’s not exactly like her to just go and help the elderly or something like that...well help them into an early grave, maybe. Why is this so hard to remember?_

Louis flit his eyes across the scattered tree branches of the tall Scarlet Oak trees that surrounded the school and provided the courtyard with much needed shade to combat the glaring sun beating down on their backs. His eyes took in every detail of the leaves and their scattered arrays of green, orange, and red to accentuate the early autumn season coming to life. Eventually his eyes turned to a nearby branch where two birds were perched and chirping sweet nothings to each other. Their golden feathers almost blending them into the scenery around them, if it wasn’t for their high-pitched song they may have escaped Louis’ attention entirely.

_Okay that’s kinda cute, they almost look like a couple. Like me and Jamie except we’re obviously the cuter cou- OH SWEET JIMINY CHRISTMAS, THAT’S IT!_

“THANK YOU, HARVEY BIRDMAN!” Louis suddenly exclaimed, jumping out of his seat and terrifying Brody in the process, who shrieked at the quick change in his behavior. “I just remembered what Sophie said Minerva was doing!” Louis shouted excitedly.

“Gosh dang it Lou, you scared me half to death!” Brody said breathlessly, clutching at her heart. “Who’s Harvey Birdman?” She asked curiously while she focused on slowing her heart rate. 

“Nevermind that! Sophie said that Minerva was seeing someone yesterday, so there’s absolutely no way she had anything to do with Violet’s behavior.” Louis beamed confidently. “Check and Mate, Bro-Bro!”

Brody took in the information and considered it with all of her other thoughts in mind. In her mind, Minerva was always a key troublemaker. She always liked to poke fun and tease Clementine to see what made her tick, it was like her specialty. Even though Louis was convinced she had no involvement, Brody refused to let her off the hook that easily when it came to her friends. Not again.

“Did she say where she was going to meet the person, Lou?” Brody interrogated, which caused Louis to drop his smile momentarily as he mentally retraced his steps.

“Well...no but I don’t see what-” Louis began, his eyes dropping down to the top of the picnic table gloomily.

“Did Minnie even say _who_ she was going to see that day?”

“N-now that you mention it...no, she didn’t.” Louis could feel his mood drop down to the floor in that instant, terrified as to what Brody was insinuating. 

“Lou, you don’t think maybe…” 

“No. No fucking way.” Louis stood up defiantly, refusing to accept what was about to be said. “I don’t even want you to finish that sentence Brody because I’m not listening!” He covered his ears with his hands and shut his eyes childishly, much to Brody’s dismay as she grabbed his hands and wrenched them away from his ears.

“Dang it Louis will you just listen to me for one freaking second!” The usually timid girl snapped. “Trust me, I don’t want to believe it either, but think about it! Violet hasn’t been her usual self since the party for unknown reasons, she’s becoming even more distant by the day and no one knows why! Not even me, and I’m her roommate for crying out loud!” She grumbles out, her tone softening at the thought of their new friend becoming nothing more than a distant memory with the way things were turning out. And she refused to let that happen, not with Violet of all people.

She, more than anyone, hoped she was dead wrong about this.

Louis continued to shake his head but found no protests leaving his lips. Instead, only a shallow breath escaped when he saw the serious expression on his friend’s face telling him everything he didn’t want to hear all at once with one look. He stopped his movements and ran a hand through his dreads, internally panicking and holding on by a thread.

“So what’s the plan then Brodes?” Louis spoke up meekly, feeling utterly defeated that he didn’t catch on to this sooner.

The disgruntled teen let out a deep sigh before meeting the set of dark brown orbs in front of her, knowing that these desperate times called for desperate measures. Not only for the safety and well-being of Violet, but also for their friend group as a whole.

“We need to go find Clementine.”

*******

“It was really nice of Javi to let us leave practice early. I honestly didn’t expect him to say yes to you,” Sophie told the shorter brunette next to her as they continued their trek from the sports field back to the dorms, the afternoon sun attacking the girls at any opportunity it could find through the branches of the tall trees that were overhead. 

Clementine smirked at the comment and wiped a few beads of sweat from her forehead before she turned to the much bigger redhead. “What can I say? It pays to be his favorite student. Looks like you owe me another one, Soph.”

“Is that right? Remind me here, when the hell did I owe you anything else?” Sophie asked, much to Clementine’s pleasure, her smile turning into a full grown grin of confidence. The brunette steps in front of Sophie, stopping her dead in her tracks in the most shaded area of the side of the school.

“Well first, you owe me for not only getting you out early, but also for bailing you out before Javi decided to be evil and make us do wind-sprints. I mean, I could handle it just fine but you’d be deader than a grandma in a mosh pit,” Clementine explained, holding up two fingers and wiggling them in the taller girl’s face, “Hey look, if Mitch was here he’d be saying how these are your two favorite fingers!” 

Sophie’s face instantly reddened a darker shade of crimson in the blaring heat, her hands quickly moving from her sides to her face to fan it. “Jesus Clem, that wasn’t necessa-” 

“And speaking of Mitch,” Clementine continued, much to Sophie’s chagrin, “You owe me double for not only getting you two together, but also because I convinced you to join the soccer team with me so you could spend all of practice staring at his ass.” 

Sophie gasped in shock at the brunette’s words. “I-I do NOT stare at Mitch’s ass!”

“Soph, I love you to death, but your eyes were pretty much glued to that dimwit’s bum all of practice. I’m just surprised you were able to dodge all the balls I sent your way,” Clementine said, shrugging her shoulders as they continued their journey through the courtyard.

“I KNEW YOU WERE DOING THAT ON PURPOSE!” the redhead shouted, instantly forgetting her recent embarrassment. “Clem what the Hell man? I could’ve seriously gotten hurt if you hit me with one of your hard ass kicks.”

“Don’t be such a pussy Soph, I wasn’t aiming for your head or anything, you would’ve been fine… probably.”

Sophie shook her head in disappointment at her friend’s confession. “You’re impossible sometimes.”

“Well, I do like to try to divide by zero,” Clementine exclaimed, summoning a groan from Sophie as she opened the door as they headed inside the much cooler building. The AC immediately hitting their sweat-coated skin and sending chills through their bodies. Quickly becoming accustomed to the air around them, the girls started to feel more rejuvenated than they had all throughout practice. Clementine and Sophie made their way to the dorm bathrooms and began washing their faces of the dirt and sweat that had accumulated in the heat. 

“Speaking of Bitchy Mitchy, what’re you two doing tonight? Any late night roleplaying in store that I need my noise cancelling headphones for?” the brash girl asked as she dried her face with a handful of paper towels.

Sophie let out a sigh through her mask of paper towels, holding them in place momentarily before tossing them in a nearby trash can. “No Clem, I know this may be hard to believe, but Mitch and I don’t have sex every single second we’re together.”

“Mhm, I guess you’re right about that,” Clementine seemingly agreed as they headed deeper into the dormitories.

“Of course, I’m right about that! Mitch and I just happen to be very close,” the redhead nodded, finally happy that Clementine had relented in her teasing. That was, until she saw the shorter girl shaking her head with her lips slightly upturned.

“No, Blowphie, I meant you were right about it being hard to believe,” Clementine let out a fit of laughter to the sound of her friend facepalming in defeat.

The girls continued their idle chatter until they turned the corner and were met with Louis and Brody standing by Clementine’s door, looking as though they’ve been waiting for quite a bit of time. Louis was the first to notice the girls and he bumped Brody’s shoulder to pull her attention to them. The usually timid and anxious Brody had a mix of anger and determination on her face, while the usually jovial Louis held a look of trepidation and worry on his own. 

“Uhm, hi guys. Everything good?” Clementine asked curiously, surprised to see Brody shake her head and step closer to her.

“We need to talk. Right. Now,” the auburn-haired girl said, Louis nodding along and leaving Sophie speechless with anxiety. The brunette, however couldn’t figure out why everyone else was on edge.

“Can it wait until I’ve changed, Brody? I reek like a ten cent hooker.” Clementine pushed her way past Brody hoping to enter her room uninterrupted so she could change into fresh clothes, but froze on the spot instantly when Brody opened her mouth next.

“It’s about Violet. We're in deep shit.”

"What? Why?"

"We think Minerva got to her."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	18. Chapter 18

_"It's about VIolet. We're in deep shit."_

_"What? Why?"_

_"We think Minerva got to her."_

Clementine blanked stared at the girl in front of her. _Excuse me, what the fuck?_

"No," she stubbornly said, shaking my head, "That can't be."

"Clementine, I'm telling you. It's the only thing that makes sense!" Brody practically yelled, but the brunette wasn't able to really take in anything of what she said. She was too caught up in her own jumbled mess of a brain. _How did Minerva get to Violet? I've never seen them together, nor have I ever heard Violet talk about Minerva, and believe me, Violet talks_ **_a lot_ ** _when it's just us two together._

"How does it make sense?!" Clementine screamed, leaning against the wall as the world around her became more blurry. _Or maybe it's just my eyes?_ She blinked a few times. _Yup, it's definitely my eyes._ "There's no way Minerva got to Violet, there just isn't!"

"I wonder where I've heard that one before," Brody sarcastically remarked. To Clementine's left, Sophie was watching her friends scream at each other with a horrified expression on her face, while Louis' brows furrowed.

"Don't fucking go there," the musician hissed, trying to walk off, but Louis grabbed her by the shoulder and stopped her from moving anywhere. She turned around to yell at him, but he shook his head no and glared her down. _Okay, they're actually serious about this then. That's not good_.

"I'll go there if you make me, Clementine. I'm dead serious about this." Brody clenched her fists and her eyes. 

"Do you even have proof!?" Clementine asked frustratedly, "You can't tell me this kind of stuff if you have nothing to back it up."

"Actually, yes. We do," Louis interrupted, "You can either hear us out or just trust us and do something about it."

"I don't believe you," the brunette stated dryly. _There's no living way in hell that this is happening. Like, Violet's got her head_ **_and_ ** _heart in the right place, Minerva simply_ **_can't_ ** _have gotten to her._

"Seriously?" Broddy huffed, "Clementine, of all people, you should know what the FUCK Minerva is capable of!"

"Shut the fuck up," Clementine said through gritted teeth, "I told you not to fucking go there!"

"Well, I told you that I'd go there if you made me!"

"Fuck you," Clementine spat, pushing past Louis and running outside.

She didn't know how long she was running for, all she knew was that the scenery around her grew more and more unfamiliar the longer she moved. Clementine followed along a trail that she'd never taken before and just ran, and after what felt like a straight forty-five minutes of running, she slowed her pace into a walk and allowed herself to catch her breath. She spotted a wooden structure in the distance. She started frowning more the closer she got, as she didn't really recognize it. _I mean, it makes sense I don't recognize it. It's not like I've ever been here._

When she reached the unknown building, she was able to make out that it was a bridge of some sort. It looked very run down and like it hadn't been used in years, which actually made sense. No one ever goes out in this direction anymore; it's in the middle of a dense forest. The musician scanned her surroundings carefully, scrutinizing every inch as well as she could. It wasn't exactly rare to encounter wild boars around here, and man, those bitches can give you a nasty painful bruise when they headbutt your ass. 

When all was deemed clear, she finished the short distance left to the bridge and carefully stepped on it, making sure to ease her weight onto the old, rotting wood to test if it could break or not. She figured it wouldn't since on the other side of the gap in the bridge, there was an old truck standing in the center of the plateau and it seemed to manage just fine with not falling down. 

_This place is actually pretty sick. It's a shame it's so far out._ Clementine now walked comfortably around the bridge, trying to see if anything useful had been left here before it was abandoned. When she was doing the same thing with Canadian Corrosion (the train station) she found an old, military-grade knife that she keeps hidden in her room. It's not like she was ever gonna need it to stab someone, but it almost came in mighty handy when they needed to cut meat for their barbeques... or to when she needed to threaten Minerva. 

_Not like that ever happened, or anything… I'd never..._

The fit girl casually jumped the 4 feet gap in the bridge, dodging the 75 feet drop underneath. She curiously walked around the truck and tried the door, which opened without any resistance. Shrugging, the musician climbed in and sat down in the driver's seat. While the truck itself was far beyond salvation, the seat still functioned properly as, well, a seat. 

Comfortable was definitely different, but it served the purpose of Clementine just needing to sit somewhere to calm herself down and gather all of her thoughts and make sense of them. She let her head fall backwards onto the headrest and let out the longest sigh she could muster. 

_Shit. I really don't want this to be true. I mean… asking Violet if she's seeing Minerva couldn't really hurt, right? But what if it's not true at all? She'd think that we're blaming her behavior on something instead of asking her why she's acting different, which is inconsiderate as hell. But anytime we ask, she just says she's fine when she's clearly not. So, maybe accusing her of something will actually lead to her finally telling us what the truth is? It doesn't take a genius to figure out that there is_ ** _something_** _wrong. Fuck, man. This is messed up. This is a lose lose situation, but I guess I'm gonna have to…_

Clementine wasn't sure how much time had passed by the time she exited the truck, but she did know that the sun had in fact gone down and that her phone had been spammed with over fifty messages and countless calls from her friends. Which surprised her. Not because she didn't expect her friends to worry, but because she found it surprising she even had reception out in the middle of nowhere. _Oh, wait. My phone. I can see the time on that. Right. Oh, it's 11:42 PM. Whoopsies..._ She shrugged and started running again. _It's only a 45 minute run anyway._

When she arrived back at the school, everything was dead quiet and dark. She carefully pushed open the big gate leading onto the school's main courtyard, thanking Jesus Christ for the fact that the teachers hadn't locked it. _Not really a surprise, though. Mr. Ericson is as responsible as a cross-faded hippie walking through the Red Light District of Amsterdam._

Clementine snuck her way across the courtyard and into the dorms, trying to get to her room unnoticed. When she passed Violet and Brody's, she noticed a small amount of light coming from underneath the door, meaning that the people in there were still awake. 

_Uh… That doesn't make sense. Brody has this strict 'the lights go out at 10 PM' rule in their room. That probably means she isn't in there_ , Clementine mused. She shrugged as she felt frustration take over again. _I need to settle this shit right here, right now._

She didn't knock, and barged into the room, scaring the absolutely shit out of Violet in the process. "WHAT THE SHIT?!" the blonde screamed, "Clem! What the hell are you doing?"

"Are you seeing Minerva? And don't fucking lie to me," the brunette spat, all the frustration she had previously returning in an instant. 

"What? No! And so fucking what if I was, would it be any of your business?" Violet defended, sitting up straighter on her bed. 

"Okay, that's just amazing! You're seeing Minerva. Okay, cool. That's just fucking _dandy_ , isn't it?" Clementine mocked sarcastically as she paced around the room. 

"WILL YOU TWO KEEP IT DOWN!?" 

"IF I HEAR ONE MORE PEEP FROM YOU I'LL SHOVE A BROOMSTICK SO FAR UP YOUR ASS, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO TASTE IT. AND I'M NOT FUCKING KIDDING!"

The voice mumbled a silent 'whatever' and then it became quiet again. Clementine focused back on Violet, who looked far from comfortable. 

Something inside of Violet snapped. "Okay, fine! I'm seeing Minerva, why does it matter!?"

"WHY DOES IT MATTER?! BECAUSE SHE'S FUCKING MANIPULATING YOU!"

"Are you serious right now? She's _manipulating_ me? She was the one who was there for me after _you_ shut me down and didn't even bother to come talk to me for fucking days to fix it!" Violet fired back, surprising herself with her attitude. Usually she wouldn't do anything like this and just kind of crawl into a shell, but she wasn't about to take shit from the person who left her to cry by herself without a second care. 

"Yes, she's manipulating you! Don't you realize what kind of person she is?" Clementine seethed, "I know you're new here, but that's not an excuse to do dumb shit like this!"

"How in the world would _you_ even know what type of person she is? You don't even spend time with her!"

"Oh, I don't spend time with her? That's half true. I _used_ to spend time with her."

"And because you _used_ to spend time with her God knows how long ago and knew what she was like _back then_ , you think she's manipulating me right _now_?"

"I don't _think_ she's manipulating you, I _know_ she's manipulating you."

"How?!"

"BECAUSE SHE FUCKING DID IT TO ME!" Clementine yelled, her heavy breathing being the only noise in the now quiet room as Violet stared at her and remained still. 

The blonde shook her head. "I don't believe you."

"Why the shit not!? You can't be for real right now!" Clementine laughed maniacally as she shook her head. 

"I think you made that up because you don't want me spending time with someone that _you_ don't like," Violet stated matter-of-factly.

"SERIOUSLY? You actually don't believe me? Go fucking figure," Clementine groaned, throwing her hands in the air, "Do you know where Brody is?"

Violet frowned. "She's at Sophie's, why?"

Clementine didn't answer, instead grabbing the blonde by the arm and forcefully dragging her out of her bed. Rosie growled at the brunette but instantly became quiet when Clementine looked at her in a 'shut the fuck up' kind of manner. Instead, the dog just raised her chin defiantly and walked along as the musician dragged a struggling VIolet through the hallways. "Let go of me!"

"No, you're coming with me," Clementine breathed through gritted teeth. She slammed open the door to Sophie's room, startling the girls inside, "WAKE UP!" 

"What the heckies, man?" Brody mumbled, rubbing her eyes after Clementine turned on the light. 

The brunette looked around the room. "Where is Minerva?"

"Not here," Sophie sighed. She looked in between Clementine and Violet a few times and shook her head, being able to guess what's _probably_ going down right now due to the conversation regarding her sister they had earlier that afternoon, "It's not rare for her to just not be here during the night. I don't really know where she always goes, but I don't really care either."

Clementine nodded approvingly. "Good. Brody, tell Violet my secret. She doesn't think it's true and I made it up on the spot."

"Like… your _secret_ secret? You told her?" she hesitantly asked, her eyes widening when Clementine nodded again. 

"I'm sorry, but what secret are we talking about?" Sophie asked, "I don't think I've been made aware of this."

"Makes sense, she only ever told me," Brody mumbled, fidgeting her fingers. She sighed and looked at the ground. "When Clem first arrived at this school, Sophie and Minerva were already here. But, what is probably a surprise to you, Sophie wasn't one to give Clem a warm welcome, it was Minerva. She was super friendly to Clem and the only reason I ever got to know our favorite filthy-mouthed pianist is because Minerva once came into her and Sophie's room with Clem while I was there with Sophie. Wowies, that was a mouthful. Anyway, y'know… things led to different things, and Clementine ended up being in what you _could_ call a 'relationship' with Minerva." 

Brody paused for a second, looking at Clementine for permission to go on. When the brunette didn't intervene, she let out another drawn out breath and continued. "But this 'relationship' was toxic and in secret. Nobody in the school knew about it because Minerva convinced Clementine that going public would only put a strain on their relationship, because they're both girls. Anyway, all Minerva did was take advantage of her in as many ways as she could. This means… that she forced Clem into certain _things…_ that I think you're pretty able to guess for yourself."

"So…" Brody said, looking at Sophie and immediately looking back down when she saw the mortified expression on Sophie's face, "If Clem wasn't as strong of a person as she is, I don't think she'd be who she is today, which is herself. She was somehow able to just _move on_ after everything that happened, which I _firmly_ believe only she could. There's one thing that she wasn't able to move on from though. Clem was convinced she could never, ever be in a relationship with a girl again because she felt like she couldn't trust them like that. Luckily, recent events helped her overcome that. It's been awhile since it happened and I feel she's starting to discover herself once more, which is good. I'm super glad that she was able to just continue being herself after everything Minerva did to her."

"Anyway, Minerva completely messed up Clem's head during the short two months they were 'together'," Brody continued, "But even the most strong-minded individuals can only handle so much. One day, Clem just snapped and broke down crying in her room while I was there with her. She told me everything. Every single detail. It was… gruesome, to put it lightly. We talked for hours and she was able to break things off with Minerva the day after. She had to threaten Minnie with her knife though, because being broken up with obviously hurt Minerva's ego… but that's not really important. She got out because she realized she was being used and because she's a strong person, and that's what matters. I didn't understand, and still don't understand, how she was able to put up with all the stuff Minnie put her through and still kept up this 'facade' that everything was fine during her day-to-day life. She asked me not to _ever_ tell anyone about any of this. Well, until now, I guess," Brody murmured the last part. 

The room remained silent for what felt like hours, Violet nervously shifting on her feet while Clementine glared at her intensely. Brody was still fidgeting her fingers and Sophie's face was expressionless, but it wasn't difficult to guess how she was feeling. 

"Oh," Violet muttered nervously, turning around and walking out of the room, Rosie following shortly after. 

Clementine pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fuck," she sighed, looking at Sophie apologetically, "I… I'm sorry, Sophie. This must be kinda hard. Like, as hard as Louis' dick when James is in a room with him."

"Clem, for fuck's sa-" Sophie sighed. "Whatever. I don't blame you. It's just kinda hard to take in that your sister is practically a rapist who raped two of your best friends. Assuming she's done _that_ with Violet too."

"Uh… yeah," Clementine chuckled, "I can imagine. Anyway… thanks Brodes. I'm just gonna go check on Vi really quickly. I don't want her to think I'm mad at her. I was just frustrated because of the whole thing, y'know?"

"You do that… good luck."

Clementine nodded firmly and left the room and walked towards Violet's. She slowly creaked open the door, and she heard Violet crying. She winced at the sound and walked over to the blonde's bed, where the girl lay curled up in a fetal position. 

The musician looked down at her friend and let out a long sigh. _Yup… that's gonna need a lot of flex tape._

The brunette slowly eased herself onto the bed and pressed herself against Violet's back. "Vi Vi, I'm not mad at you… I was just frustrated because I was trying to help you and I was failing hardcore. Like, _really_ hardcore."

"I know you're not mad," Violet croaked, "It just sucks… You think you can trust a person, that person then says that I can't trust _you_ and now she turned out to be the liar in the end? Fuck this."

"Minerva said you can't trust me?" Clementine asked in disbelief, and when Violet meekly nodded Clementine felt fire coursing through her veins. "I'm gonna fucking kill her. I've always wondered how someone would react if you cut their clitoris off, I think I've found my Guinea pig."

"Ew. Also, ouch," Violet exclaimed, but she did chuckle, but that obviously quickly faded again, "Clem… please don't do anything stupid. I caused all of this shit, I shouldn't have trusted her… _None_ of this would've happened if I'd just listened to you from the start when you said Minerva was bad blood."

"Violet, it's fine, really. I know exactly how she can be…" Clementine said softly, cuddling up to Violet tighter, "Do you wanna talk about the things she did?"

"No, not really."

"I understand, I didn't want to either."

The two remained quiet after that, just enjoying the comfort they were able to find in each other during moments like this. _It's good Violet and I both don't hold grudges. This would've ended as a real shitshow if we did…_

Clementine loosened her grip on the blonde when Violet turned around and to face her, Violet letting out a long sigh. "I'm really glad to have met you, Clementine," she murmured. 

"I'm glad you met me, too," Clementine grinned softly, pressing herself up to Violet again as soon as she had turned back around. _Y'know, I might be tinier, but God, I really like being the big spoon in this situation._

It didn't take long before Clementine heard the soft snoring of the blonde in her arms, and soon she found herself being overtaken by sleep as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	19. Chapter 19

"OKAY, WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"Louis, shut the fuck up! Don't you see I'm trying to focus here?"

"FOCUS?! Who the hell needs to focus when they're cleaning up their dirty underwear?!"

"It requires a substantial amount of focus to properly throw them in my laundry basket from the other side of the room!" 

"Why do you have to put them in from the other side of the damn room? Just put them in normally!"

"No, you don't get it! It's illegal _not_ to throw your laundry in the basket from the other side of the room! It's the _only_ way!"

Louis rubbed his temples. "Clementine, I swear to God that you're single-handedly the _most_ stupidly stubborn person I've ever met. Just let me go on my rant!"

"Fucking fine, then! Just don't let it interfere with me yeeting my dirty laundry across the room and you're golden." Clementine continued tossing her laundry to her basket, cheering when she got another piece it in first try. 

"Okay, whatever!" Louis huffed, " _Anyway_ , how in the living dookies did _no one_ tell me about the Halloween party coming up? It's literally in a week, and I have yet to hear _anyone_ talk about it! Do you all now realize how important Halloween is? It's the only time of the year where you get to dress ridiculously! We cannot miss it!"

"Louis, your dumbass looks ridiculous all the time. You don't need Halloween."

"Not just that, but James and I need to find cute matching couple outfits! How are we gonna properly do that within _one week_? Like, at this rate I'm gonna end up going as a burrito and he'll just be a zombie or some shit! Like, what the hell?" Louis started pacing around the room, face buried into the palms of his hands. 

"LOUIS!"

"WHAT?"

"Shut the hell up, you're scaring my underwear! Look, she's being all pouty!" Clementine said as she held a pair of panties in front of Louis' face. "You got her all upset! It's okay, Maddie. Uncle Louis is just a bit of a shithead is all," she added as she cradled the underwear in her arms and walked to her laundry basket and gently eased Maddie into it, "It'll be okay, baby girl. Just try to get some rest, okay?"

"You didn't _actually_ name that stupid piece of underwear Maddie, right?!"

"What the hell did you just call my daughter?! I will literally f—"

Clementine was cut off when the door to her room slammed open and Sophie walked inside. "What the hell is all this yelling about? I swear to God if this is about the way Louis puts on his shoes again, I'll fucking murder someone."

"First of all," Clementine said, "It's not about that. Second of all, who the _fuck_ puts on a sock, then a shoe, then the next sock and then the other shoe!?"

"Just leave him be! If he wants to put on his shoes like that, then why shouldn't he?"

"Because, as I said, it's stupid! It's like putting in milk before the cereal, it just _doesn't_ work like that!" Clementine stubbornly shook her head, glaring at the redhead in front of her. 

"So what? It's not like he's bothering anyone with it!" Sophie retaliated. 

"What do you mean?! It's bothering me! It's stupid and annoying!"

"Clementine, we'll go into discussion about this another time. For now, what the hell was this yelling about?" Sophie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she looked at Louis, who was amusedly watching the scene unfold in front of him. 

"What it was about? This shithead scared Maddie!"

"HE DID WHAT?!" Sophie exclaimed, running over to Louis and punching his shoulder "LOUIS! What the hell is all of that about? Nobody, and I mean, _nobody_ , gets to fucking disrespect Maddie! She's been here with Clementine since she first came to Ericson's!"

"Well, I'm fucking sorry! How the hell am I supposed to know that some purple pair of panties holds a dear place in her black, empty shallow heart?!"

Sophie huffed and shook her head. "Are you serious? You didn't even _consider_ that cursing out her underwear like that could make her upset? You're such an insensitive asshole sometimes, Louis, I swear to God." 

"What do you mean?! This bitch will literally knock out anyone that fucks with her and I'm supposed to anticipate that she's a fucking softie for an old piece of underwear!?"

"You were thoughtful enough to consider that, at the time, Michael might be trans because she was growing her hair out, even if you weren't sure!"

"That's because at the time I thought that he, well, _she_ was hot as shit! I didn't wanna hurt her feelings!"

"Who's this Michael person?" Clementine chimed in, "I don't think I've met him before. I mean, _her_."

"Well, right now you know her as Erin. Makes sense, yeah?"

Clementine mouthed 'Oh' and thought for a second. "Aaah… That explains the rainbow-colored braces!"

"Exactly. Now," Sophie said, turning her attention back to Louis, who was playing with the ends of one of his dreads, "If I _ever_ hear that you disrespected Maddie again, I will personally come to your dorm, kick down the door and set your hair on fire. Got it?"

"Whatever," Louis mumbled as he stood up, "I'm gonna go to James'. We need to discuss our Halloween costume plans."

"HALLOWEEN COSTUMES?" Sophie shrieked, "Shit! I need to go to Mitch's to discuss the same thing, the party is literally in a week. Bye, Clem!"

Clementine let out a sigh as she watched the artist hurry out of her room, her slamming the door shut in the process. She stumbled over towards her laundry basket and looked inside it. "I guess it's just me and you, eh Maddie?"

She shook her head, grinning as she finished putting all of her laundry in the basket and her freshly washed clothes back inside her closet. Afterward, she strode over to her computer and unlocked it and opened Spotify. She scrolled through her playlist for a little before settling on _Shaped by Fire_ by As I Lay Dying. 

_I still don't know why I'm so picky about what song I want to listen to first when I don't care anymore after. Like, I'll sit here deciding what to play for two minutes and then I just end up putting my playlist on shuffle and I'll listen to anything that comes after. I wonder if that's just me?_ Clementine thought, shaking her head and opening up her browser. 

She pondered for a second, thinking about what she wanted to do for Halloween. Louis had definitely been correct that the Halloween party had completely slipped her mind, but it's not like she's ever going to admit that to him. _Not my fault I'm always busy! I mean, I don't really have time to think about Halloween when I'm always playing the piano, do I?_

Deciding on what she wanted to wear for Halloween was always something the girl struggled with immensely. There are so many things that she wants, but also kind of doesn't want and then she still has to pick something off that list. She sat there for a few minutes, clicking her tongue every now and then as she thought. When her song ended, a new one came on and her eyes immediately widened when the intro to Solway Firth by Slipknot started playing. 

_Hell yes! I'm going to dress up as Corey Taylor! I should still have that mask that I won during that music competition a few years back… so I just have to order one of those outfits that they always wear during their concerts. I think the mask I have is a copy from the Iowa era? Wait, I have the All Hope Is Gone one as well! Damn, I basically don't have to buy shit, just one of those outfits that I've seen for sale for around 60 bucks. And I get to switch masks during the evening too!_

She finished up her order and she grinned as she cracked her knuckles. _Aight, cool… Now I just have to learn some of his quotes and I'm good!_

***

"Clem, it's not that I don't trust you, but I seriously feel like you're taking me somewhere remote to murder me."

"Take a chill pill, Vi! It's all good, I promise I won't murder you. _Yet_."

"Well, that's reassuring," Violet sighed as she turned her head to the brunette that was driving the car, "I never knew you had your driver's license. Is this your car?"

"I mean, _technically_ I don't have my driver's license. And no, it is most certainly not my car."

"What do you mean, you _technically_ don't have your driver's license?" Violet asked worriedly, shaking her head.

"Now, you see, I never _actually_ took driving lessons."

"WHAT?!"

"Relax, it's fine! I drove to that concert when I was thirteen, remember? I have plenty of experience. Besides, we haven't even crashed yet! We'll be okay, Vi."

"I don't really like how you said 'yet', but whatever," the blonde murmured under her breath, "I guess I'll _have_ to trust you since it's not like I can just open the door and throw myself outside."

" _Technically_ , you could."

"Clem, _no_. I'm not trying to die out here."

"I don't think you'd die… At most you'd break a shitload of bones and be in unbearable agony for a few weeks, so it wouldn't be _that_ bad."

"You really know how to make me feel better, I feel so much safer now," Violet mocked, unable to hide a small smirk tugging on her lips, "Anyway, you owe me Chick-fil-A for stealing me away from my afternoon nap. Unless it's too expensive, of course."

"Mhm, I'll be good money-wise. I guess you're getting Chick-fil-A. Or is this some very subtle method to ask me out on a date? Because that'd be a big no-no from me." Clementine narrowed her eyes at the blonde, rolling them when she realized that her gesture wouldn't exactly be noticed by the girl next to her, who also happened to be turning a deep shade of red. 

"W-What? No, I… it was just a joke! You don't actually have to take me," she stuttered, attempting to hide her blush by pulling her hoodie over her head. 

"I'm just messing with you, you're getting your Chick-fil-A. We're going on that date whether you like it or not," Clementine grinned, taking one hand off the wheel and nudging Violet with it. Then, she threw it over the blonde's shoulder and pulled her towards herself so they're sitting pressed up against each other, almost cuddled up, one could say. "This is gonna be a great night out, don't you think?"

"Clem, please put your hand on the wheel," Violet breathed, trying to lessen her blush and not to let her breathing become heavy, "It's not gonna be a great night out if you ram your car into a rock and have it flip over."

"Me? Crashing a car and having it flip upside down? Who even does that, that's for dumb people. That'd never happen to me."

Violet sighed. "Yup, that's what everyone who gets into a car crash thinks beforehand."

"Fine," Clementine huffed, "If you don't want my affection you're not getting it."

"I didn't mean it like that!" Violet said quickly, "I just don't want us to die!"

"Oooh… so you do want my affection?" Clementine smirked mischievously as she started tickling Violet with her right hand. 

"C-Clem! Stop!" the blonde laughed, trying to fight back but failing miserably. 

"I'm just fucking with you," Clementine grinned, "We'll go to Chick-fil-A after we're done doing what's important. Speaking of, we're nearly there."

"Wait," Violet said suddenly, "You said this _isn't_ your car? What the hell?"

"Oh… about that," Clementine said innocently, "I stole Luke's car keys off his desk this morning."

"Are you serious!? How is he gonna get home?" Violet sighed, "I can't believe you."

"I mean, I left a small note saying that the car would be back before 11 PM and I signed it as Minerva. So, we're all golden." 

"Oh."

"Yup, amazing right? Luke already hates Minerva, so she's definitely going to get her ass kicked now. I'd love to see that."

"Right…"

Violet shook her head in disbelief. She'd known Clementine for a long time, but sometimes the audacity of the girl still baffled her. _Who in the world steals their teacher's car?_ she thought to herself, still not quite believing it. 

"We're here!" Clementine exclaimed, slamming the breaks of the car a little too hard and sending Violet forward, only being caught by her seatbelt. Rosie let out a whine of disapproval. 

"Clem, what the hell! Break a little more carefully, will you?" the blonde huffed, stepping out of the car and straightening her clothing. 

"Those car breaks are a lot more sensitive than you'd think, it's not my fault!" Clementine defended as she got out of the car as well. She walked to the backside of the car and opened the trunk, grabbing her backpack and lunging it over her shoulder. 

"It _is_ your fault. If you wouldn't drive without having your license it wouldn't even be a problem."

Clementine gasped dramatically. "How dare you insult my driving, _again_?!"

"Well, it's trash. I don't think it's possible to comment on your driving without having it be an insult of some kind."

"And then to think I was taking you shopping for a Halloween costume," Clementine huffed, crossing her arms and looking away defiantly. _It's not like she can really see it, but it's the thought that counts,_ Clementine thought. 

Violet stayed silent for a second. "You were what? Clem, I don't like parties. I don't _go_ to parties, like, at all."

"Well, you're going this year. It's going to be amazingly awesome! Besides, you'll get to spend more time with me, your favorite person on the planet! Why wouldn't you want that?" Clementine grinned, nudging Violet as she threw her hands over the blonde's shoulder and started leading her into the small town's shopping center. 

_Okay, fair point_ , Violet thought. "Bold of you to assume that you're my favorite person."

"I mean, am I wrong?" Clementine asked, raising an eyebrow. 

_No, you're not._ "Yeah. I must say I like Louis a lot more."

"Oh no, my fragile ego!" Clementine fake-cried, biting her lip to hide the smirk starting to form.   
"Okay, I have a different way of making this work. Cough if I'm your favorite person. ANAL BEADS!" the brunette yelled at the top of her lungs, making everyone in the mall look at her in concern. 

Violet coughed as she choked on her own spit. "Clem, what the fuck?!"

"I knew I was your favorite person!" Clementine cheered, "It's okay, Vi. I'm my own favorite person, too."

"You're too confident for your own good," Violet muttered, trying to hide her red cheeks behind her hands as they passed the busiest section of the mall. Everyone was still staring at them, which even Violet was able to sense. 

Clementine shook her head. "I'm not confident. I appear like that because I don't care what others think and just do what I want. That's very different from being confident." 

"End result is still the same, isn't it?"

Clementine shrugged. "Perhaps. I'm just being myself."

A comfortable silence overtook the two as they finished their walk towards the Halloween store. Clementine's eyes widened as soon as she spotted and she fastened her pace, dragging Violet along with her. Rosie squinted her eyes at the brunette but decided to let it slip. As soon as they were in the store, all hell broke loose. 

"Oh my god! You'd look _amazing_ in this!"

"What is it?" Violet asked curiously. 

"A massive menstrual pad costume! Oh my god, I love it. I might just cry," Clementine said, wiping her eyes. 

"CLEM! No!" 

"What?! Why not?"

"I… I… W-What do you mean, why not!? It's a pad, for Heaven's sake!"

"I know! It's even got blood on it, and all. It's epic!"

"Clementine, I don't even like going to parties. You're lucky I'm even considering going," Violet sighed, shaking her head, "And I can always change my mind. Find me something normal or I just simply won't go."

"Such a buzzkill," Clementine mumbled, placing the pad costume back on the shelves. It didn't take two seconds for her to run off again to find something different. 

"Vi! I found something!" Clementine screamed from the other side of the store. 

"For God's sake," Violet mumbled as she allowed Rosie to maneuver her through the racks of clothing, towards Clementine. When they reached the enthusiastic brunette, Violet immediately spoke up. "Can you keep it down a bit? We're in public!"

Clementine shrugged. "I don't give a damn. The only people here are currently banging in a changing room, I don't think they care they're in public either."

"Okay then," Violet mumbled, "What did you find me this time?"

"Oh!" Clementine excitedly exclaimed, almost having forgotten about it already, "It's an avocado!"

"Okay… an avocado," Violet sighed, "What's the catch?"

"The catch?" Clementine curiously tilted her head. 

"Like, there is something more to it right?"

"Nah, it's an avocado."

"...Just an avocado?"

"Yup, just an avocado."

Violet dropped her shoulders in defeat. "Okay then…"

Clementine jumped in excitement. "Oh my god, you like it! Yes!"

"What? No!" Violet quickly said, "That's not what I meant!"

"Damn it!" Clementine exclaimed, walking away to find something else again. 

Violet held up her hand and three fingers, counting them down as she mouthed along. "3… 2… 1…"

"YES! THIS IS PERFECT!"

"Figures," Violet murmured, "What is it this time?" she asked as she walked towards Clementine. 

"Okay, hear me out. This is a vampire costume, which is generic and boring, right? But you see, since you're blind…" Clementine paused as she pressed the costume against VIolet's figure to see if it would fit, "It'd mean you get to be as blind as a bat!"

Violet groaned loudly but still let out a chuckle. "Really? You actually just said that? That's the _worst_ pun I've ever heard, and that means a lot coming from someone who's spent time with Louis."

"Come on… you love it!" Clementine laughed as she nudged her friend. 

"I… maybe," Violet sighed, "But I don't know…"

"Why not?! You're not making this easy on me, Vi Vi."

"Everyone who _doesn't_ know me is going to think I'm some basic white bitch dressing as a vampire…"

"That'd be a fair point if you didn't walk around the school with a guide dog and a cane at all times, but okay. I guess you just don't wanna be a vampire then." Clementine rubbed her temples and walked off again, trying to find something different. It took her a bit longer this time. 

"Okay, Vi. I think I found it!"

"Should I be scared?"

"Mhm, not really. Okay, so I found this sexy pirate outfit, but the best thing is, I'll buy you _two_ eyepatches!"

"...But why?"

"Well, people who don't know you are gonna be extremely confused and I get to show off my badass pirate friend who can walk without eyesight!"

"That's… actually kinda funny. How sexy are we talking though?" Violet timidly asked, "I don't wanna go walking around like a slutwhore."

"It's not that bad, it only shows your stomach, legs and arms."

"Fine. I'll be a pirate."

"YES!"

Violet thought for a moment. "Do I have to try it on right now?"

"I mean, _obviously_. We can't buy it and have it not fit on the night of the party, because then you'd have no costume. I'll go check if that guy is done batter-dipping his corndog into that girl." Clementine happily skipped towards the changing room and yanked open the curtains, and in return, two shrieks of mortified people were heard. 

The musician walked back towards her friend and laughed. "Mhm, they weren't done."

"Clem! Oh my god…" Violet groaned, sighing exasperatedly as she stayed silent for a few seconds, "Well… then where am I supposed to change?"

"There's no one here. Well, besides that guy and the girl who's too busy opening up the gates to Mordor," Clementine said, shrugging. "I can just rearrange a few of the clothing racks and you can change in between those."

"Okay… and then what? I can't change into the clothing because they're unfamiliar."

"Oh, I'll help you. It's not a problem," Clementine said as she started arranging the clothing racks into a circle. 

Violet paused for a second. "You'll what?"

"I'm gonna help you get dressed! Come on, we're both girls here, it doesn't matter," Clementine explained, taking Violet's hand and placing her in the center of her makeshift changing room. 

_Yeah, one of which is as gay as they get_ , Violet thought to herself, shaking her head. "Clem… I don't know…"

"Don't you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you! It's just… awkward and uncomfortable." Violet shuffled on her feet, embarrassed.

"It's only as awkward as we make it. Now, get your ass undressed and I'll help you."

Violet didn't answer. Instead, she mentally said 'Fuck it' and started undressing. Clementine helped her ease into her clothes, who squealed when the costume had been put on. "Oh my god, it's so perfect!" she exclaimed happily, "It shows off your bomb-ass stomach, too! Oh man, all the girls are gonna be _over_ you. Maybe even me if you don't watch out."

 _I wouldn't mind_. "Yeah, right," Violet chuckled, "I bet."

"Totally, dude! I'm telling you. Now, as the finishing touch..." Clementine reached into her pockets and fished out two eyepatches and caref ully put them on Violet's head. She never actually asked if her eyes hurt at all, so she made sure to be very careful. "Voila!" The brunette took a step back and laughed. "Oh man, this is literally perfect. That party is gonna be a blast."

"You think so?" Violet asked nervously. 

"I'm sure. Now, let's get you back into your normal clothes and then get some Chick-fil-A, shall we?"

"Sounds good."

***

"I bet you a handful of Chili's coupons that Jesus had a foot fetish."

"Ms. Marsh, that kind of language is _not_ tolerated in this classroom!"

"What are you talking about? I didn't even swear!" Clementine huffed, crossing her arms and glaring at Mr. Van Buuren, who dropped his shoulders in defeat. 

"Lord, help me," he muttered under his breath as he turned around and started writing on the whiteboard again. "Anyway… So, we're going to try to solve this equation by taking th—"

"I see you're practicing your Corey Taylor quotes?" Isa whispered into Clementine's ear, leaning over her table to reach the brunette sat in the row in front of her. Clementine nodded, and Isa gave her a confused look. "Why?"

"Okay, so don't tell anyone this," Clementine muttered back, "But for Halloween, I'm going as Corey Taylor. We made a tradition in our group of friends to not tell each other what we're going as and keep it a surprise."

"Oh, so I'm not in your group of friends?" Isa mocked, jokingly placing her hand over her heart, "Good to know, I'll just bugger off then."

"You know I didn't mean it like that," Clementine grinned, "I mean, you asked so I answered. What else was I supposed to do? Tell you that it's a secret and making you think that I don't trust you? Nah, fam. Your personality is quite a lot to take in for most people, but you're definitely an amazing friend and very loyal to those who are loyal to you. I don't want to ruin that. I just hope that _some_ people will realize that at some point too."

Isa stifled and grin and fake-wiped a tear from her eye. "Oh my goodness, that was such a heartfelt speech. I must say I'm touched by your words."

"Sometimes you're as much of a dumbass as Louis, and that's _not_ a good thing," Clementine sighed, "I can barely handle one Louis, let alone two."

"Ouch," Isa laughed, "You truly wound me, Marsh."

"That isn't what you were saying last night…"

"Well, you got me there," Isa shrugged, still grinning. 

Clementine rolled her eyes, smiling lightly. "Anyway, we should probably pay attention to class. We have a test tomorrow and I don't know about you, but I don't understand this for jack shit. Like, I'm not stupid, but math just doesn't click in my head for some reason."

"I could tutor you," Isa offered, "Math is a walk in the park for me."

"That's what you said yesterday, but we didn't exactly end up doing math, did we?"

"Again, you got me there," Isa smiled, "But I'm down to actually do math this time."

"Mhm… fine then."

"Why is it always me that has to witness conversations like this?" James sighed, dropping his head on the table, "What did I do to deserve this?"

"James, I _literally_ had to sit through you and Louis making out during our weekly movie night for _two hours_ . Usually, I wouldn't really care, but Louis was wearing _sweats._ The tent I saw in his pants that day is an image that's permanently burned into my retina and I am never going to unsee."

"Okay, fine! Point taken!" James said quickly, shushing Clementine quickly, "Be quiet now please."

"Oh, so you get to criticize me but as soon as I criticize you I need to be quiet? Go pick some rice or something," Clementine huffed. 

"Ms. Marsh and Mr. Walker, please do share with us what your conversation is about. I'm sure we'd all love to participate," Mr. Van Buuren said, forcing a smile at the two. 

"Well, I don't really think you want to know," Clementine said, shrugging her shoulders, "I think for everyone's sake, it's better to remain unsaid to the general public."

"Don't smartmouth me, lady! You will repeat what you said to Mr. Walker!"

"Well, it started off with me saying that the image of his boyfriend's, who is my best friend, boner is something I'm never going to forget, and then I told him to go pick some rice."

"Ms. Marsh, detention. Now," Mr. Van Buuren seethed, pointing at the door. Clementine gave him a 'What the fuck?' look, but remained quiet and grabbed her stuff. She stood up and marched towards the door. 

"What the fuck, man? You're gonna give her detention after forcing her to say something that she told you you wouldn't like? That's some bullshit, man," Isa growled, standing up, "You're a pathetic man."

"Ms. Beckers, you can go too. I don't accept this kind of behavior here!"

"Ugh, suck my dick," Isa mumbled as she got off her chair and walked towards Clementine, who was still waiting in the doorway. 

The brunette smiled at her teacher. "The English language has well over a million words, but I can't string enough of them together to properly express how much I'd like to bash your face in with a chair. Have a pleasant day!"

She slammed the door shut and let out a sigh. "I swear to God, I bet he straightened slinkies when he was a kid. I can't believe him," she murmured to Isa, who burst out laughing. 

"Dude, that was legendary! The face he pulled was fucking _gold_. I don't think I'm ever going to forget that complete look of defeat," Isa sighed in content, looking around her, "So… it looks like we're in detention together. Sounds like the beginning of an epic porn plot, doesn't it?"

Before Clementine was able to answer, she was interrupted by a voice yelling across the hall.

"GET THE FUCK BACK HERE, YOU FUCKING CHODE CHOKER!" Clementine watched as Louis ran right past her, Mitch following soon after. "GIVE BACK MY FUCKING TAKIS! I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL FUCKING FIGHT YOU AGAIN!"

"You know, something tells me that these two should be in class right now," Isa snickered. 

Clementine merely shrugged. "Probably, but you know how Mitch gets over his Takis. Louis probably thought that he could get away with stealing them simply because they were in class, but that's just not true. You only get away with stealing them if you're a 5'9 girl with long red hair who is also extremely hot and also sucks his dick."

"I mean, I'd give someone my Takis too if it meant they're gonna suck my dick."

"Isa, you _don't_ have a dick."

"Well, it's not lik— oh wait, you do know. Shit. Ah well, it's the thought that counts, isn't it?"

"I guess," the musician shrugged, "You got any plans for Halloween? Costumes and shit?"

"Yup, I already have something planned out. I'm not gonna tell you, though. I wanna blow you away with my epic choice of clothing."

"Right," Clementine snorted, "Anyway, he sent us out of class but detention only starts at 5:30, meaning we have like another three hours to kill. Wanna do math? And I mean, _actually_ do math. Seriously, I can't fail this test and I don't understand any of it. Please help me out?"

"I mean… I don't offer any services for free, if you get what I'm saying," Isa grinned. 

Clementine instantly flipped her off. "Well, I guess I'll do it on my own then. I'm not going to be giving you any 'payments'. Also, that'd make you a prostitute."

Isa smiled mischievously. "Would that mean that I'm a non-profit _whore_ ganization?"

"...You didn't just say that," Clementine sighed, "Anyway… I'm gonna do math, and you can join me if you want. But I'm _strictly_ going to be doing math. Got it?"

Isa huffed, "Fine, I'll do fucking math with you."

"Good."

"Eat me."

"I have, and it was a one-time thing. I don't want this shit to turn into a friends-with-benefits type situation. It happened, we had fun, and that's it."

Isa pouted and sighed. "I mean… it wouldn't have to be a friends-with-benefits situation if we just started dating… I'd be down to give it a try."

Clementine chuckled. "Isa, I really like you, but not like that, I think. Nonetheless, I'll consider it and think about it some more later, I can't just decide that in this moment. I'm sorry."

"It's totally okay, don't worry about it. Take as much time as you need," Isa said, "You don't really control your feelings, do you? And who knows, maybe in chapter 21 something will happen that'll help you make your final decision."

Clementine shrugged meekly. "Maybe. Who knows… Wait, what?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	20. Chapter 20

**Wednesday, October 31th** **  
****Halloween Night**

"Vi, come on! We gotta hurry, the party is gonna start soon!"

"Calm down, Clem! All I have to do it get changed, it's not gonna take that long. Can you stop bugging me for one second?"

"Well, if I stop bugging you you'll take even longer, and it's not like you're busy doing something else! You do realize that all the best snacks will be gone if we get there late, right?" Clementine retorted, pacing around her room while Violet sat on her bed, sighing. 

"Whatever, I'll get changed and then we can go. Just know that I'm _not_ a fan of this entire 'Let's go party' thing. I don't _like_ parties, I don't _want_ to go to a party."

"But you like me, so you'll go anyway!" Clementine cringed as soon as those words left her mouth. "Uh… that was phrased pretty awkwardly, I'm so-"

"It's fine, whatever," Violet mumbled, standing up and maneuvering towards Clementine's drawer where they had hidden the costume. They didn't want Louis to find it prematurely, as he always went looking for other people's costumes. He's an eager beaver and just can't really help it. "Help me with this shit?" the blonde asked, holding up the costume. 

Clementine nodded and was instantly by the blonde's side. She was glad Violet had gotten the initial awkwardness of the entire 'helping her change' thing, even if it did make sense. "Clem?"

"Oh, right. Yeah, I'll help," Clementine said, rolling her eyes at herself for not realizing Violet wouldn't see her nod. The brunette had been walking around in her Corey Taylor outfit for the past hour, _including_ the mask. It was far from comfortable, but she kept insisting that in order to stay in character, you have to _be_ your character. 

When Violet costume had been put on with success, the two intertwined their arms and left the room to go to the party together. Isa and Xander's dorm was on the same floor as theirs. Their situation had been a little bit tricky because the siblings obviously wanted a room together, but they were of different sexes. The school had eventually settled on giving them a room on the girls' floor after Isa had finally been able to convince them that Xander wouldn't even be interested in the girls in the first place. 

So, Violet and Clementine were meeting up with Xander and Isa and would then make their way to the music room together. Last year, the music room had gotten a huge upgrade and it was now three times as large as the original size, which obviously pleased Clementine beyond what could be put into words. 

The hallways were filled with students all making their way towards the party, and in the distance Clementine saw Isa towering above everyone else. She threw the blonde a quick wave to catch her attention, which she did. The musician tilted her head curiously when she noticed an immense look of disappointment on Isa's face. 

"What's up?" Clementine asked as soon as they were within speaking distance. She lightly tightened her grip on Violet when she noticed her getting more tense. The only way Violet and Isa had really spoken was when they first met, and that wasn't _exactly_ the most appealing of a conversation. It was clear that the blind girl wasn't comfortable around the relatively newcomer. 

"Okay, hear me out. A week ago, I told Xander about this party, yeah? I told him he could come, as long as he didn't drink or do anything stupid. Not that I thought he would, but I'm his big sister and I just have the responsibility to make sure. Anyway, I told him he could come on a party on _October 31st,_ right? This dumbo didn't connect the dots to Halloween and now he doesn't have a costume," Isa explained, shaking her head as Xander looked at the floor guiltily. 

"How was I supposed to know?" he asked, "You just said there was a party, you didn't say there were any catches to it!"

"Xander, I love you, but please. There's posters _everywhere_ around the school. Didn't you see them?"

"I figured they were for something else, I bet this isn't the only Halloween party in this country!"

"Why in the world would they put up posters here for another party when they're having one themselves?" Isa retorted. 

Xander stayed silent for a second, his mouth forming an 'O' shape. "Right. I guess that makes sense."

Only then Clementine realized what Isa was wearing, she'd been too focused on listening. "Isa… why are you wearing that? Do you _want_ people to call you a slut?"

"What? Oh, this! What do you mean, a slut?" Isa asked as she looked down at her stereotypical 'sexy female police officer's' costume, "It only shows my stomach, my legs, my arms, my shoulders, and my cleavage. What's wrong with that? Violet's showing her stomach, why is she not a slut?"

"Well, probably because you're carrying around hand cuffs and are probably waiting for the perfect moment to tell me that I'm under arrest and need to cuff me to my bed."

"You know me too well," Isa murmured, "If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't just gonna tell that to you. I plan to do it to everyone who talks to me for longer than a minute. The only reason I'm wearing this is to make that joke."

"Joke? I bet you wouldn't back down if someone obliged," Clementine snorted, gesturing her head to the left to signal that they could start walking. She kept her arm intertwined with that of Violet. 

"I would back down! I think," Isa said, "But I'm trying to expand my horizons this evening. I want to get to know more people and prove to them that there's more to me than what they all think I am."

"Well, it's kinda your own fault you made yourself appear as a slutwhore the first time you set foot in this school," Clementine mumbled, "Also, outfit isn't exactly helping your case."

"I bet your first impressions weren't a lot better than mine. Not like that matters, anyway. What a person ends up being is more important," Isa shrugged, pushing the door open and stepping inside the music room. Plenty of students were already there, drinking and dancing. 

"Well, I sat down behind a piano and everyone thought I was amazing."

"Okay then. I guess there's always exceptions," Isa mumbled, "Anyway, I'm off to find myself some munchies. See y'all later?"

"Sounds good! See ya," Clementine said, turning to Violet again who seemed a lot more comfortable now that Isa was gone. 

"You know, I guess she's not really as bad as she first seemed," Violet sighed, "She's actually pretty chill. She's kinda like you, but in the sense that you're never gonna meet someone like her again in your life."

"That's definitely true. But I think that counts for a lot of people in EMA. I mean, Louis is a total weirdo that-"

"Violet! Whit ur ye daein'! Take aff they eyepatches, ye're gonnae fall! I dinnae need anither injured student, thir's already one that broke her arm!"

Clementine rolled her eyes. "Mr. McKinzie, Violet's blind, remember? The eyepatches don't make a difference."

"Och, right. A'm sorry, a'm just really stressed 'cause— JUSTIN, I TOLD YE NO TAE SHAG ANY LASSIES ON THE TABLES! THERE'S FOOKIN' KIDS HERE!— uh, 'cause they're havin' me run this shit by mah own."

About Mr. McKenzie. He's an English teacher and Clementine is one of the few people who can actually understand is extreme Scottish accent. But nobody really complains about not being able to understand him because he's hot as shit. 

"Don't worry, I understand. Holler if you need help with anything, okay? I tend to be able to be really good at stopping rowdy people from being rowdy," Clementine said, earning a grateful nod from Mr. McKenzie. 

"Thank ye, Clem, I appreciate it, and donnae fo— BERTHA! DINNAE USE THE SCAFFOLDIN AS A STRIPPER'S POLE! AND KIMI, FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME, DINNAE PULL UP YER SKIRT TAE SECUDE TEH FORTEEN YEAR OLD BOYS! YE'RE TWENTY YEARS OLD, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!"

Clementine laughed alongside Violet when McKenzie ran off again, this time to stop Trevor from climbing the scaffolding and jumping into a large group of people to crowdsurf. "Are these parties always like this?" Violet asked through her fit of laughter. 

"Usually, but so far this seems to be a bit more extreme than usual. I'm not really complaining, though. We should try to find the rest, I wonder what they're dressed as," Clementine responded, adrenaline rushing through her body. She was always in her element whenever she was in large, rowdy crowds and could truly do whatever she felt like without anyone realizing. 

"Sure thing," Violet replied, and she allowed Clementine to drag her through the large gathering of students all jumping around, shotgunning beer and making out. In the distance, Clementine was able to spot a flash of red and instantly recognized it at Sophie. Only Sophie had hair as vibrant and majestic as that. 

When they came closer, Clementine instantly shrieked of excitement when she saw Sophie's costume. "OH MY GOD! THAT'S PERFECT! I never knew Red Riding Hood could be this fucking hot," the musician grinned as she let go of Violet to examine every inch of Sophie, "Woah, this wounds are sick! Your artistic skills really came in handy, didn't they?"

"Yeah… totally," Sophie said nervously, smiling when Mitch appeared beside her, dressed as a big bad wolf. And let me tell you, Mitch makes for a pretty fuckin' good big bad wolf. 

"Nah, that's not make-up. Those are real, we went a little wild last night," he grinned, kissing Sophie's temple. 

"MITCH!" the redhead exclaimed, instantly hiding her face in her hands. Mitch just shrugged and scanned Clementine and Violet's outfit real quick. 

"I see Clementine went metal as fuck and Violet is using her blindless to her advantage! Great choice girls. Just wait until you see Louis and James, I don't think I've ever laughed harder in my life," Mitch said, pointing to his left. 

Clementine's eyes immediately widened and she told Violet to stay put and she ran towards where Mitch had directed her. She instantly died of laughter when she saw Louis frantically jumping around on the dancefloor, a very disappointed James watching him. Louis was wearing a _burrito_ costume. And with him jumping around like an idiot, Clementine seriously wondered if he's mentally challenged in some way she hadn't yet been informed about. 

The brunette walked over to the other side of the dance floor towards James and tapped him on his shoulder, who instantly started rambling. "I mean, what the hell? I don't get it, this man just _insisted_ on dressing as a burrito! Like, _who in this whole world_ wants to dress as a burrito? I walk up to him and say, 'Hey, I'd like to dress as a zombie' and he just says that he's gonna dress as a _burrito!_ He didn't even care about matching like he said he did, the guy just wanted to be a fucking burrito! I just… I don't know what to thi—" Clementine grinned, deciding to leave James alone and let him have him have fun spiraling down into a fiery trench of self-pity by himself. 

James himself was, as aforementioned, dressed as a zombie, as Clementine had figured. The boy really has an obsession for them for some reason. She shrugged and went back to Violet, Mitch and Sophie. 

"Vi! You should've totally gone as an avocado, you'd be matching with Louis!" Clementine yelled over the music that was slowly becoming more and more loud. 

"Why? Is he a strawberry or something?"

"No, even better! He's a burrito!"

"Okay then," Violet snickered, "Weird, but not unexpected."

"MAX, WHY ARE YE PISSIN' IN THE PUNCH BOWL?! ARE YE FUCKIN' NUTS?!"

"I don't think Mr. McKenzie is having a great night," Clementine grinned as she watched him run towards the drinks section, him coming to an abrupt halt when I student ran past him. 

"AND JONATHAN, A SWEAR IF A SEE YA NARUTO RUNNIN' ONE MORE TIME A'LL PUT YE IN DETENTION FOR FIVE MONTHS! RUNNIN' AROUND LIKE AN IDIOT LIKE THA' IS A SERIOUS SAFETY HAZARD, WHIT IF YE RUN INTAE SOMEONE HOLDIN' A GLASS, EH? THA'S RIGHT, YE'LL FUCKING DEE!"

"Clem," Sophie sternly said, "Do _not_ look to your right."

"What? Why?" Clementine asked as she looked to her right. Her eyes immediately dilated and her hands balled into fists. Minerva was standing there, talking to some of her cronies. 

"I'll be right back," the brunette hissed through gritted teeth, shrugging Sophie's arm of her shoulder when the redhead tried to stop her. She approached Minerva from behind and tapped her shoulder. Minerva turned around, and before she had any time to react Clementine punched her straight on the jaw, making the redhead fall to the ground. When she was down, Clementine kicked her on her face, making blood come shooting out from Minnie's nose. "That's for what you did to Violet, you cockmunching babybel looking ass."

"CLEM, WHIT TH' FOCK? YE'RE NAE MAKING THIS SHET ANY EASIER OAN ME!"

"Oh, Mr. McKenzie, I'm so sorry!" Clementine said apologetically, taking a step back, "I was dancing and Minerva happened to Naruto run right into my elbow, and I—"

"SHE WAS WHIT? Fuckin' hell, Minerva! Ye've git detention fur a week! You cannae go aroond runnin' lik' tha'! IT'S DANGEROUS!"

"I wasn't fucking running, this bitch straight up hit me in the face!" Minerva screamed. 

"AH DINNAE CARE! DETENTION!"

McKenzie instantly ran off again to defuse any other struggles coming into place, and Minerva glared at Clementine in anger as he did. She raised up from the floor and stood next to Clementine. She was almost a foot taller, but that didn't stop the musician from not getting intimidated by her. "You're gonna fucking regret that, _Clementine_ ," Minerva seethed, stomping off. 

"Have a great night," Clementine told Minerva, blowing a kiss in her direction as she walked back to her friends. Sophie was mortified, while Mitch looked at Minerva amusedly as she made her way towards the bathrooms to clear up her face. 

"That was fucking insane! Good job, Clem," Mitch exclaimed as he beamed with happiness. Clementine high-fived him, which earned Mitch a stomp in the ribs from Sophie. 

"MITCH! You can't be encouraging that kind of behavior!"

"Why not!? Minerva needed a good beating and she got it!"

"Whatever," Sophie mumbled, "I'm not saying she didn't deserve it, but we can't have Clementine get in any trouble. She's lucky McKenzie likes her, otherwise she would've been in deep shit."

"I wouldn't have cared about being in deep shit, Minerva just had to be punched in her cocky fucking face. Anyway, time to get shitfaced and have fun!" Clementine exclaimed, running off from the rest and going towards the small bar that had been set up to get herself some shots. 

"And… off she goes," Sophie sighed, looking at Violet who looked uncomfortable, "Don't worry about it, Violet. She always does this and tomorrow's she's going to have a killer hangover and gonna tell us to never let her drink again. She'll be fine though, she always is."

"It's cool, it's just that the only reason I came here in the first place was because _she_ wanted me to, so it sucks that she's just gonna do something else," Violet explained, taking a seat on a couch Sophie had led her to. 

"Did you tell her that she's the only reason you're going?"

"Uh, yes? Maybe? No… not really," Violet mumbled. 

"It makes sense that she's off to do something else, then," Sophie reasoned, "Why didn't you tell her?"

"I don't know, it's just kinda awkward… Like, I did tell her that I don't like parties at all and that the only reason I'm going is because she's dragging me in here, but I never said I wouldn't have gone if it was anyone else trying to drag me. Am I making sense? Probably not. Whatever, it doesn't matter. I'll just let her have her fun, I guess."

"You should, she's gonna be all apologetic tomorrow anyway. We're kinda used to her doing th—"

"HELLO THERE!" Clementine yelled as she threw her arms around Violet, "I completely forgot I had my secret surprise with me, so I can't drink!"

"Well, that's good!" Brody said, who'd suddenly appeared out of nowhere with Marlon by her side, "Drinking isn't good for you."

"I know!" Clementine confirmed, "Especially when you're high. I'm not trying to get cross-faded, because that shit fucking _sucks_."

"YOU'RE HIGH?!" Brody asked loudly, "What the heckies, Clem?!" 

In response, Clementine just put a lit joint to her lips and took a long drag. "Nah, I wouldn't smoke weed. That's extremely irresponsible and bad for your health," she said as she blew out the smoke. 

"It's healthier than alcohol," Violet mumbled, receiving a fierce poke from Brody. 

"Don't encourage her!" Brody said angrily, turning back to face Clementine, "Clem, put out the joint!"

The brunette took another long drag. "Nah, dude. I'm good."

"Clem, I swear to God—"

"Since when is Marlon paddling up your Coochie Creek?" Clementine asked, "You're wearing matching outfits." Clementine lazily motioned to Marlon, who was wearing a Gomez Addams costume, while Brody was dressed as Morticia. 

"What?! I mean, I don't know what you're talking about," Brody muttered, "It's a beautiful day out, isn't it?"

"Brody, don't change the subject or I'm shoving this joint up your ass as soon as I'm done with it."

"It's been going on ever since the barbeque," Marlon interrupted, "We kinda tried things, it worked out. Need anymore details?"

"Mhm, no. I'm good for now, I'm not gonna remember most of this tomorrow."

"I thought you weren't drinking?" Violet asked confusedly. 

"That's what I tell myself I'm gonna do, but I end up doing it anyway. It's fine though, the hangover usually doesn't last for more than a few hours."

"Oh god," Sophie said as her eyes widened, "That's… gonna be interesting."

"What? You've seen me hangover countless of times! You even labeled your aspirin bottle 'Clementine Hangover Cure.' What are you talking about?" the musician asked. 

Sophie just shook her head and pointed towards the dancefloor, where Isa and Minerva were stood across from one another, staring each other down. "Uh oh," Clementine mumbled. 

"What's up?" Violet asked. Clementine didn't answer, instead she slowly made her way towards the two girls. Minerva was about an inch taller than Isa and stood _very_ close to her. Isa just smiled warmly at her, but Clementine sensed that something was off. Minerva took a step back and whistled at Isa. "Damn… I see you. Nice choice of outfit. It suits you well."

Isa raised her eyebrows, "Oh yeah? You like what you see, huh?"

Minerva nodded, causing Isa to take a step towards her, now their faces were merely inches apart. "Well… I've heard some interesting things about you, Minnie."

"Is that right?"

"Uh huh… some were good, some were a little worse than good," Isa breathed out, moving her face even closer to Minerva's, who leaned in to close the gap, but Isa stopped her by forcefully grabbing her jaw between her index finger and thumb. 

"O-Oh yeah?" Minerva mumbled, trying to keep her composure, "What kind of things?"

"You should know that trying to kiss people without their consent isn't nice," Isa said firmly, glaring at the girl in front of her, earning a soft whimper and a 'sorry' in return.

She stared at Minerva for a few seconds, smiling warmly again after a few seconds. "First of all, I've heard that you're very attractive. They were right about that…"

 _Oh, fuck_ , Clementine thought, _This isn't good. Isa is being a total daddy though, it's kinda hot, not gonna lie._

"Second of all, that you're _very_ intelligent… Seems like that was true as well…"

Isa moves even closer, "But you know what's most important that I heard?"

Minerva gulped audibly. "W-What is it?"

"That you manipulated two people, both of which are are my friends by the way, into abusive 'relationships' and raped them. Multiple times. That's not exactly polite, is it?" Before Minerva could react, Isa's fist connected with the redhead's temple at full force, knocking the girl out cold. The tall redhead's figure instantly crumpled and fell to the floor. "Sweet dreams, bitch," Isa said as she waved at Minerva's body sarcastically, "Better think twice before doing that kinda shit to MY friends." She dusted off her hands and turned to Clementine. "Oh, hey! Want a drink?"

"I-uh, I'm good. Thanks, though," Clementine confusedly said, looking at Minnie's knocked out body.

"She's not having that great of a night, huh?" Isa asked amusedly, throwing her arms over Clementine's shoulder. 

"You could say that," Clementine mumbled, "I think she's been better."

"What do you think of her outfit?"

"It's a Succubus, right? Suits her, I guess. If only she wasn't an absolutely bitch she might actually successfully seduce people," Clementine smirked, shaking her head, "Let's leave her be. She'll wake up eventually, right?"

"Probably," Isa shrugged, "Let's go find Violet, I think she misses you."

Clementine frowned at the girl beside her. "Why would she miss me?"

"I don't know if you've realized, but she really isn't the party type, Clem. My bet is that she only came here because you wanted her to. Let's keep her some company, yeah?"

By now, the party was fully started and everyone had arrived. Music was blasting through the room and flashing lights were everywhere. Now, this might come as a surprise, but when energy surrounds Clementine, it completely overtakes her and she gets bursts of energy constantly, and right now she's nearing the point where the energy burst turns into a constant stream of hype. 

On the way back to her other friends, she'd found some shot glasses and downed around five of them, so by now she was definitely cross-faded. And Clementine absolutely thrives when she's inebriated. She got distracted countless times as Isa tried to get her to move along with her to find Violet, but eventually they made it back to Violet sitting on a couch with Sophie and Brody. 

However, what happened after, is something that Clementine doesn't remember the next morning. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	21. Chapter 21

"Oh my Jesus dookie McTitty fiddles," Clementine groaned as she tried to sit up, clutching her head in her hands, "Fuck me gently with a chainsaw, please don't  _ ever _ let me drink again."

"Good mornin', Ms. Sunshine."

The brunette groggily raised her head and was met with the sight of a pair of intense blue eyes, "You've had a rough night, eh?" the blonde joked, walking over to a small cabinet hanging from her wall. She opened it and took out a small jar of pills and a bottle of water, tossing them at Clementine, who only now realized she had been lying on the floor of Isa and Xander's room. 

"Thanks," Clementine mumbled as she took the two items Isa gave her. She downed two of the pills and finished the water within a few seconds. "What the hell happened last night?"

Isa grinned. "So, what do you remember?"

Clementine thought for a second. "I remember Mr. McKenzie running around like an idiot, me completely humiliating Minerva,  _ you _ completely humiliating Minerva, and then we walked to Sophie and Violet sitting somewhere?"

"Mhm, sounds about right," Isa said, "Is that as much as you remember?" When Clementine nodded, the blonde continued. "Well, after that you drank some more and after awhile you were very out of it, and you were all over Violet."

"Oh, God," Clementine murmured. 

"Oh God, indeed. I think you ended up making out with her for about fifteen minutes before you decided you wanted to sleep and left. When I came to my room I just found you here on the floor and decided to leave you be."

"You're fucking kidding, right?" 

"Yeah, I am. None of that happened."

"Bitch!" Clementine laughed, letting out a sigh of relief, "I mean, I'm glad because that would've sucked hard if it did happen, but  _ fuck  _ you."

"Hey, you're right on! That's indeed what happened."

Clementine's face turned emotionless. "I'm sorry, what?"

"We left the party early, you fucked my brains out, and then passed out on my floor."

"Oh."

"I'm kidding again," Isa drawled, making finger guns, "You got super shitfaced and could barely walk. Violet wanted to help you get back, but two people who don't know where to put their feet could only have ended badly. I insisted on helping you out and told Violet to go to sleep, which she did."

"Sometimes I don't remember why you're even my friend," Clementine mumbled, "But thanks, I guess I needed the help."

"That you did. Also, some dickhead with a beanie tried to steal the stash you had in your pocket. I knocked one of his teeth out. I put the stash in a drawer in your room because I didn't want it to be found in mine in case they do room inspections or some shit. Also, that totally meant that I had to reach into your back pocket to grab your key and I  _ totally  _ didn't let my hand linger in there while I couldn't find it'." 

"Thanks," Clementine grinned, "And don't worry about them inspecting your rooms. I've had a military-grade knife for years now, the teachers don't give a shit."

"Damn, okay. I guess that means I get to keep Miguel in my room then."

"...Who's Miguel?"

"My glock."

Clementine stared at her for a second. "You've got a gun?"

"Yeah, merely for self-defense though. When I was younger, some people tried some shit with me and I'm not really trying to let that happen again."

The brunette blinked a few times. "Okay, fair. Should I be worried?"

"Not really, if it was up to me Miguel would never see the light of day and he hasn't in years."

"Okay, then," Clementine said, getting up from the ground and instantly catching herself on the wall when she fell over, her head throbbing wildly, "Fuck," she hisseed, "I'm gonna go find Violet, yeah? I wanna hang out with her."

"Kewlio, have fun. Try not to die on the way there."

"Thanks, I'll try."

***

"You know that it's okay to talk about it, right?" Clementine said softly, stroking her hand through Violet's blonde hair as they sat on her bed. 

“Talk about what, Clem?” Violet asked, doing her best to keep up her act of feigning ignorance while finding herself completely relaxed under her friend's touch. 

"About what she did. I didn't want to either, but when I did I felt so much better afterwards. Have you ever woken up and pleaded to God, wishing that you didn't have to get up yet and then see it's only 2 AM and you've got like five hours left to sleep? It almost felt as good as that."

"Okay… but why should I try to relive it if I could just ignore it instead?"

"Because that's how you get over it. If you had one bomb ass pizza roll and there's another one, you could either eat it or ignore it but bet your ass you're gonna eat it."

"That makes no sense. Eating pizza rolls and what she did aren't exactly things that can be compared to each other."

"That's besides the point! My genius and very considerate intentions are what's really important here. You know, just like that one time I accidentally fried all of Louis' gaming systems. I was only trying to fix them, so therefore the fact that I broke them remained completely irrelevant."

"Clem… be serious about this. I know that you always like to be funny and stuff, but now is not the time."

"Well… humor is kinda how I got over it so I was hoping it could do the same for you," Clementine sighed, removing her hands from Violet hair and sitting herself down on the edge of the bed and turning away from the blonde. "I don't want you to be sad. I want you to be happy and smile, you're so much prettier that way. I mean, not that you're not pretty otherwise! You're pretty a lot of the time."

“W-what are you talking about? I’m not pretty, Clem.” Violet muttered, feeling her face heat up and her heart began to race from the brunette’s unexpected compliment.

"If I hear someone saying lies about the way you look, I might just have to beat their ass. And that includes you, missie," the musician said sternly, still facing away from her friend. She hesitated for a second before continuing. "And, y'know, I'm just stating facts so I don't really see the problem here."

“Well then I guess I better keep my mouth shut so you don’t kick my ass anytime soon.” Violet said jokingly, holding her hands up in mock defeat for a moment before she frowns slightly. “Even though I still don’t believe you at all, it was still sweet of you to say.”

"Bitch, I'll make your ass believe me," Clementine laughed as she turned back around to face Violet, "Also, the only reason I don't want you or anyone to shittalk yourself is because  _ I  _ am the only person who gets to shittalk you. That's a privilege only a best friend has, and not some random subordinates that don't even know how to spell your name correctly."

“I’ll still never really understand how Louis managed to spell my name wrong.” Violet giggles softly at the memory. “Like I get spelling it wrong, but for God’s sake he added more letters to it too! How is he so book smart but still so...Louis?”

"Oh, I actually lied that time. He never spelled it wrong I just told you he did because I thought it was funny," Clementine shrugged nonchalantly. "Nonetheless… best friend privilege isn't something anyone else should have in your case,  _ besides  _ me. Unless you're secretly dating someone behind my back who you love deeply. Which, you aren't… right?" 

“Now that you mention it…” Violet began, looking away with a look of deep concentration on her features. “Nope.” she finished simply.

"You sure?" Clementine inquired, "You said that last time, didn't you?" 

“Y-yeah,” the blonde cringed ever-so-slightly at Clementine’s words. “But Minnie made me believe that I couldn’t trust you with anything at the time, which is very far from the truth, obviously. I promise I am not dating anyone behind your back, Clem. Cross my heart and hope to die.” Violet dragged her finger across her heart in an ‘X’ to add to her point in hopes of earning the other girl’s trust.

Clementine narrowed her eyes at the blonde, chuckling lightly. "For clarification, it'd be fine if you were, I guess. I'm just messing around," she said, letting herself fall onto the bed on her back. She stared up at the ceiling and took a deep breath to clear her mind. "But… do spill. Got your eyes on anyone? Joke definitely intended, sorry not sorry."

“Right now I’m pretty sure my eyes are looking at the ground, although I could just be staring at my shoes.” Satisfied with her joke, Violet turned her head towards the sound of Clementine’s voice. “And...yeah, I guess you could say I have a bit of a thing for a person.” she said softly, biting the inside of her cheek to avoid saying anything more.

"Oh… that's cool, I guess," Clementine said, not really knowing what else to say, "Let's hope they eat ass, eh?"

“Yeah here’s hop- ...Clem come on!” Violet exclaimed, throwing her hands up in surprise. “God… what about you?”

"Mhm? Oh, I don't know. I guess? But I don't know," Clementine unsurely said, "It's confusing, we'll leave it at that."

“Really? The great and always certain Clementine is confused?” the blonde asked incredulously. “Did I step into some weird alternate reality or something? What’s so confusing about it?”

"Well, the fact that it's confusing in the first place."

“You’re really confusing sometimes.”

"My dick is really confusing."

Violet shook her head at Clementine’s attempts at dodging her question, instead opting to slowly fall back onto the bed next to the brunette and drum her fingers on her stomach as she chose her next words very carefully.

“It’s okay to be confused Clem, I get it. But I think whoever it is who you end up with will be the luckiest person in the world and that’s the truth,” Violet said confidently, feeling the familiar warmth of a light blush creeping onto her face, causing her cheeks to redden as she draped an arm over her face to avoid the brunette’s detection.

Violet didn’t understand why Clementine’s words stung her heart so much. The thought of her best friend and the person who had saved her from such a malicious person in Minerva being taken away by a random person made her feel sick to her stomach. Yes, they had their falling outs and issues in the past, but no matter how hard Violet tried to destroy her feelings for Clementine, they always came back whenever the brunette spoke to her and showed her how much she cared. However, Violet still didn’t understand why Clementine was being so cagey about her feelings.

Could she be falling for someone that Violet knew?

The blonde shook her head at these hopeful thoughts, as much as she wished that to be true, Clementine had already turned her down before everything happened between them, so why would things be any different now? Violet sat back up when she heard the girl next to her snickering .

"I guess, but like I said I don't even think I like this person. It's whatever, forget I said anything. I'm still single and ready to mingle and it stays that way until I feel like changing it and right now I don't feel like changing it. We'll see what happens though, the world does work in crazy ways," Clementine reasoned, looking at her wall of instruments, "Whatever happens, at least I'll always have my music, and in the end I think that's the only thing I  _ really  _ need. The rest is just an added bonus."

"That's one way to look at things, I guess," Violet reluctantly agreed, "But since I was young, I've always dreamt of finding my perfect person, getting married and having kids. I don't know why, but I just have this kind of pull towards it."

"I guess I get that too, but my braino not workerino like thato. Sure, I'd  _ like  _ to get married and such, but it's by no means necessary for me to be happy and satisfied in life."

"Fair enough," Violet replied, her mind wandering back to those thoughts and wishes that she's had since she was young, but then her mind suddenly jumped back to Clementine. "What about that private concert you promised me?"

Clementine raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I ever promised such thing."

"Does it matter?"

"Well, yes. I absolutely refuse to give you any type of private concert if I haven't consulted about it with you beforehand. These impromptu concerts are a difficult thing to pull off, since I haven't had the proper time to prepare my monstrous performance. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm just gonna go back to my previous state of wanting you to ask me to play for you for weeks and completely forget everything you just said."

"Just fucking play, dumbass."

"Jeez, you're so presumptuous! Fine, whatever," Clementine scoffed, walking over to her music wall and having her eyes dart between her guitars and her piano, "What do you want me to play,  _ daddy _ ?"

“Since you’re the one complaining about ‘not having enough time to prepare’, why not play me your favorite song?” Violet responded, rolling her eyes at Clementine’s comment. “It’s not like it’s going to matter much, I’m pretty sure you’ll find some way to show off and blow me away.”

"Hey hey, now you're changing the details! You asked me for a private  _ concert _ , which means I would have to prepare a setlist with the things I want to perform and then rehearse it. If you'd asked me to play a song, none of this would've happened! I can play you a song, if you want. But choosing favourites is hard, just like my dick when browsing horrorporn.com."

“Okay one: Why are you being so difficult about this, if you don’t wanna play that badly then just do it another day. And two: And I can’t stress this next part enough, what is with you and dicks today? Like, it’s raising some alarming questions in my mind that’d I’d rather not find out the answers to.”

"You really want me to answer that question?"

Violet rubbed a hand across her face as she let out a sigh of slight frustration. “Not really, no. I’m pretty sure you know what I want, and that’s your brash ass playing me a song. You would have already been done by now if you weren’t being so stubborn.”

"It's because I haven't gotten one violently shoved down my throat for too long and I'm getting cravings. Also, fuck you. I'm grabbing a guitar in a sec."

“And...you told me anyway. Why am I not surprised?” Violet mumbled. “So what’s the plan then, Clem?”

"Mhm… I guess I can give you a sneak peek of what I've got planned to perform for the upcoming Saturday Night Live performance Louis and I are gonna do. Not actually on SNL, just in the music room, but you probably figured that. It's been awhile since we've done it, this year's been busy. But, I rehearsed Decadence Dance by Extreme, if that's okay with you? For the record, I don't care if you're okay with it or not, I'm gonna play it either way because it's super funsies."

“I kind of figured my input didn’t matter after realizing getting you to play was more painful than pulling out my own tooth with a pair of pliers. I’ve never heard of that song but sounds good to me.” Violet shrugged, shifting back up to a seated position on the bed against the wall, her legs crossed while she eagerly awaited for Clementine to begin.

The brunette opened her laptop and connected it to her small audio setup, opening her Spotify and scrolling through her list as she looked for the song. When she found it, she turned it on and then went ahead and turned on her amp and grabbed her guitar off the wall, since the song had a one minute intro that she wasn't playing. 

Eventually, the guitar part kicked in and Clementine started playing along flawlessly as if she'd played the song a million times before, which honestly, she most likely has. The fast riffs with changing and variating licks and melodies in between them. Violet's face contorted when the brunette played a fast tapping lick that came out of nowhere, and yet fit the song so well. 

Violet closed her eyes and allowed the music to envelop her body, every pluck of a string and every chord the brunette played caused Violet’s body to feel more at peace and relaxed in the small room. The blonde could only imagine how Clementine looked while playing the song for her. She wondered if Clementine looked calm and stoic while playing, like a true professional would. Or maybe it was the opposite and Clementine actually put her entire body into a performance, using the entire space she was given to show how passionate she was about her talent and her music. Violet also wondered if Clementine was looking at her as she played.

The blonde’s mind slowly started to turn a different path as the music continued, instead of mainly focusing on the song itself, it began to go on the backburner to Clementine herself. The brash brunette played the song effortlessly, which was to be expected from someone like her, but Violet couldn’t stop herself from wondering what the other girl was thinking while they were alone. Maybe she wanted to only spend time with Violet because she still felt guilty for allowing Minerva to get to her like she did. Or maybe she really did enjoy spending time with Violet and truly valued her friendship, it made sense considering Violet was able to get her to play for her. 

"Vi, you there? The song's been done for a hot minute now and you've just been staring off into the abyss of eternal darkness. I don't blame you though, my playing is absolutely superb and extremely mesmeri-"

Clementine was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing from her pocket and she groaned lightly as she took it out, her eyes widening when the saw the caller ID. "Uh… Vi? I have to take this, I'll be right back."

Violet nodded meekly and allowed herself to lie down on her friend's bed and relax completely. Sure, she loved Clementine's presence but she was never able to fully relax because the brunette can be  _ very  _ present at times. After a few minutes had passed, Clementine walked into the room and stayed awfully quiet. 

"Well? What's up?" Violet asked, sitting upright. 

"I have to fly home. My uncle just died," Clementine emotionlessly stated. 

"Oh my God, I'm so sor-"

"Don't start with that stuff, I don't really care he's dead, we all saw it coming. I mean, he was nice and all but he was a pisshead like no one else. I'm surprised he even lived to see the age of 40. Anyway… my flight is in like five hours, which means I have to leave right now. So… yay?" Clementine said, sarcastically doing jazz-hands as she slugged over to her drawer and started packing her bag. 

"How long is the flight anyway?" Violet asked, not really sure what else to make conversation about. 

"Well… West Virginia to Oregon is quite the way out, I guess. It's fine though, I kinda like flying."

Violet hesitated for a second. "H-How long will you be gone for?"

"Probably a week at most," Clementine shrugged as she finished packing her bags and walked towards the door frame, and then leaning against it as Violet approached her, "The funeral is in three days but I can imagine that mom and dad are gonna want me to stay a bit longer than I’d like to. Don't worry though, I won't be lon-"

Before Clementine could finish her sentence and process what was going on, she felt Violet's lips colliding with her own. She froze in place for a second before slowly starting to kiss back. She still didn't have a clue what was going on, but she wasn't complaining either. The kiss felt natural and so much more, everything both of the girls have always felt like what a kiss  _ should  _ be like. When Clementine weakly pulled away, she looked at Violet with a blank expression as she still had no idea what to feel. 

"...The fuck?" she murmured. 

"Just, be safe please," Violet croaked, "A-And you better not go disappearing on me, okay?"

"I-uh… I won't," Clementine awkwardly stated, looking over her shoulder anxiously, "I really have to go now though, my taxi is apparently already at the front gates. Uh… I'll talk to you later?"

"You better," Violet muttered as she listened to Clementine leaving the room, as well as getting lost in her own thoughts. 

_ Okay… I guess I actually just did that… _

***

"Vi, wake up, sleepyhead!" Louis said as he shook Violet's shoulder lightly. "You can't be dozing off towards the dreamworld in Mr. McKenzie's classes, he gets real pissy about it, remember?"

"Whatever," the blonde mumbled. "He likes me, it'll be fine."

"That I do," McKenzie chimed in, causing both Louis and Violet to chuckle. 

"What were you dreaming about anyway?" Louis inquired, shooting finger guns at McKenzie and winking at him. "You were moving around quite a bit, and I'm not gonna lie to you, you were drooling too."

"I-uh… it wasn't exactly a dream. More like a memory."

"Oh… do tell!"

Violet sighed, but chuckled at Louis' enthusiasm too. "So… the day Clementine left, so like two days ago, I was in her room with her, and….."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	22. Chapter 22

Somewhere in the distance, stumbling can be heard. 

"MITCH! What the hell? You can't do that!"

"What do you mean, I can't do that?"

"Yeah! What do you mean, he can't do that?!"

"Isa, not now. This is between me and my boyfriend. Mitch, you  _ can't  _ do that!"

"What am I supposed to do then! Am I supposed to  _ hold in  _ my farts? Hell no dude, if you suck 'em back up like that it feels like you're vacuum cleaning your guts, fuck that."

"Bro, if y'all think that was bad, you ain't heard Clementine let one rip, dude. When she does that, her cheeks be clappin' louder than a NASCAR car's engine."

"Elijah! First, that's too much information. Second, you're not exactly helping my case here!" Sophie whisper-yelled, shaking her head and then glaring back at Mitch while crossing her arms. 

Mitch raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend's demeanor and grinned. "Are we just going to ignore the fact that you're telling me I can't fart whilst you once ripped a wet, spanky one while I was eating you out?"

"MITCH!"

"Hey, I'm just saying."

"If you all want to make this shit a surprise 'welcome back' type thing, then I suggest you shut the hell up!" Louis groaned. 

"You're talking too!"

"THAT'S BECAUSE I WANT EVERYONE TO BE QUIET!"

"LOUIS, SHUT UP!"

"NO, U!"

"I swear to God, each and every one of you are less mature than fucking infants."

"You're one to talk, Isa. Don't think I forgot about you throwing a tantrum because you wanted to use the bouncy castle that was meant for kids upto eight years of age."

"You don't understand! There are only two things in this world that are better than bouncy castles, which are pussy and titties. Now, I don't see you supplying me any of those, so that's why I wanted to use the bouncy castle!"

"When was Clem even supposed to arrive?" Violet whispered. 

"What about right now?" a voice chimed in as the door to the room flew open. 

"FUCK!"

"YOU RUINED IT, LOUIS!"

"HOW IS IT MY FAULT?!"

"WHY COULDN'T YOU SHUT THE HELL UP?"

"HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KN-"

"STOP TALKING OR I'LL SHOVE MY SOCK UP YOUR ASS!"

"I don't necessarily see how that's a bad thing. It'd keep the shit off your finger," Clementine said, grinning as she threw her bag onto the bed. 

"Well… fuck! I don't know, I'll recreate Sam's buttersock from iCarly and whoop his ass with it!"

"Dunno about that one," Elijah muttered, "Last time I heard, James said Louis likes getting his ass schmacked when they're going at it. You remember that time Louis refused to sit down during class because he wanted to 'Pay respect to his veteran grandfather who had passed away five years ago'? I bet y'all ten bucks that nigga just got his ass slapped so hard, he couldn't sit down without it burning like the fiery pits of doom belonging to our dear friend, Satan."

"I never pictured James as someone who'd spank their partner's ass during sex," Isa frowned, crawling out of the closet they had all been hiding in as she did so, "I mean, I know people's personalities can differ from how they act in bed versus how they are in their daily lives by a large margin, but I'd never pictured the cute, little Asian guy in my math class as someone who's into light BDSM."

While the most charming and endearing chatter about Louis' buttocks continued, the teens that had all packed themselves up inside of Clementine's closet slowly started crawling out. Luckily for them, it was a Saturday night and nobody really minded the excessive noise leaking out underneath the room's door. Clementine amusedly watched as all of her peers climbed out of the small space, laughing even louder when Louis tripped over Isa's foot and fell on top of Elijah. 

"BRO, WHY'D YOU FALL WITH YOUR HAND ON TOP OF MY DICK!? I KNOW Y'ALL GAY, AND THAT'S FINE AND SHIT, BUT I DON'T SWING THAT WAY!"

"It was an accident, I swear! The only penis I'll ever touch is Jamie's! I made an unbreakable vow with him and breaking it with result in death!" Louis retaliated, hurriedly getting back on his feet and making a dash for Clementine's bed and jumping on top of it. 

"What's all this Harry Potter sounding shit?" Isa asked, "We're not at Hogwarts, we can't cast a 'thin tongue of brilliant flame' and wrap it around each other's wrists, and even if I could cast thin tongues of brilliant flame, I'd use them for something else, if you get what I'm saying."

"'Will you, Louis O'Neill, watch over my penis, as you attempt to fill a simple Asian boy's sexual needs?'" Louis dramatically exclaimed, "'Yes, Jamie! Of course, I will!'    
'And will you, to the best of your ability, protect it from harm?'"

"This dude lost his mind," Elijah groaned. 

"'I will!'    
'And should it prove necessary… if my erections will fail… will you carry out the deed that I had previously ordered you to perform?'    
'I WILL!'"

"Yo, I'm just gonna go. This shit is getting way too weird for me," Elijah said, immediately walking towards the door and opening it in one swift motion. Everyone (besides Violet) watched dumbly as he stumbled over the door frame and had to catch himself on the wall opposite of the room, Clementine grinning as he did so. 

"I have a question for you all," Louis announced, raising to his feet on the bed and putting one hand on his chest and the other aloft, "Did you know that the only word in the English language that ends in 'mt' is the word dreamt? It is an alternative spelling of the past tense and past participle of the verb 'to dream' and it is used in British English. I find this fact rather fascinating."

"You're a dumbass," Violet muttered. 

"What about daydreamt? That's a separate word and it also ends in 'mt'." Clementine chimed in, to which Louis looked at her in return as if she'd shat on his pancakes. 

"It's the same damn thing!"

"Bitch, bet your ass if I'm opening a dictionary they're two different things."

"Why are you such a buzzkill? I want to educate you all with my outstanding knowledge of the English language and my sublime expertise in British culture."

"Well, I'm sorry. I think I'm gonna take up on Sophie's idea and create the buttersock of iCarly."

"You don't need to, you can have mine," Mitch interrupted, standing up and walking towards his bag that he'd very cleverly left out in the open.

Sophie stared at him as he walked and lightly shook her head. "Babe… Why in the living hell do you have a buttersock?"

"If I wanna butter my toast during lunch, I'm gonna need to get the butter from somewhere, right?"

"I really hope you're kidding. That's disgusting," Violet groaned. 

"What? No… What's disgusting is what Willy did with his socks, because he…"

"LOUIS, NO! I don't want to know about that," Sophie yelled.

"Because he would wear his cum socks from the night before, to school. And believe me when I say the socks were black and the stains were as eye-catching as Clementine would be in a room full of straight people. It was disturbing but hilarious at the same time."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"Mhmmm…" Isa hummed, "Wonder if he ever wrung them out above his mouth and slurped it up like a good ol' Fortnite potion?"

"ISA!"

"FUCK'S SAKE, I DID NOT NEED THAT IMAGERY!"

"I wonder how much shield it'd give hi-"

"SHUT UP!" Sophie yelled, pushing her hands to her ears as firmly as she could, "What the fuck is wrong with you all?"

"I'd say there's about a myriad of things I could list. How long have you got?" Clementine asked, sitting down onto the bed,  _ next to Violet, might I add.  _

"I'm gonna refrain from what I just asked, because I know you're not kidding and I do not wish to listen to that boatload of information."

"I bet there was a boatload in Willy's socks, too. Real nice and squishy."

"I'm leaving," Sophie announced promptly, standing up and walking out of the room, dragging Mitch with her. 

The room remained eerily quiet as the couple left Clementine's room, all recovering from the intense arguments that had taken place just before. They love going at each other's throats, but damn, can it be tiring. 

"So… I guess it's just us, then?" Isa asked as she eyed Clementine, Violet and Louis. When all nodded in return, Isa eyed Louis and grabbed his shoulder. "Because of recent events that I have been made aware of by my dear, gay friend over here, I have now promptly decided that both me and him will leave this room so you two can have some space to talk about how Violet smooched your ass. Good luck and have fun!"

Isa instantly proceeded to drag Louis out of the room and mouthed, 'Good luck,' to Clementine as she did so. Clementine let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding and her eyes drifted off to her barred up window that was the only entrance to the room of the tender rays that belonged to the sun of a seemingly everlasting day of the winter. During the moment in which her eyes landed upon the few leaves that remained in the trees behind the school, she couldn't help but take notice of how they now appeared golden rather than yellow, and that the sunbursts seemed to radiate an energy like she'd never taken in before. A sympathetic breeze stroked her neck, making her hair stand up ever so slightly. On the window's bar, a robin was sleeping in a cute, little nest it had made for itself, emitting a sense of peace that seemed impossible to be disturbed. This positive energy that diverged itself from the robin found its way onto Clementine's body, and therefore into her heart, giving her the ability to muster up the confidence needed to face Violet, rather than her dirty, age-old window. 

"Eat my ass and fuck me sideways, this is a lot more difficult than I had imagined," Clementine mumbled as she sat upright on the bed. 

"Tell me about it," Violet chuckled, "I've been worked up about this moment for an entire week and I still don't know how to feel about it actually happening. Not in a bad way, of course! It's just, I'm nervous and don't know what to expect."

"Me too. I mean… fuck man, I actually don't know what to say."

"That's a first," Violet laughed softly, stroking her hair to the side of her face. The blonde's smile was honest, and Clementine found herself mesmerized by it. 

"Since I don't know what to say, can you maybe ask me something? Would make shit a lot easier on me," Clementine said nervously, "I'm not used to feeling like this and it's freaking me the fuck out."

"Okay…" Violet unsurely answered, "Did, uh… did you like it?"

Clementine shifted on the bed anxiously, the shift of the mattress causing an uproar of the exact same emotion inside Violet. "Well… at first it was confusing as fuck. You know that one time Louis left my aunt's baby alone on the kitchen counter next to an oil fryer that was in use? I was pretty confused back then, but when you kissed me I was also confused, but like a thousand times worse."

"...That doesn't really answer my question," Violet mumbled. 

"Yeah… you're right. I thought about it, mainly on my flight because I needed to do something to distract myself from the child on the seat next to me that kept pulling on my hair and farting in my face."

"Poor you. I feel that pain and I wasn't even there."

"I know right? Anyway, I liked it."

"...Really?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Would you be opposed to doing it again?" Violet asked shyly. 

"No, but… I kinda am right now, if that makes sense? Maybe we should, you know, go on a date first? I don't know, I like being sure about things or something, and I don't know wha-"

"Of course we can do that, you don't need to explain. We can take all the time you need."

"I… thanks. Thank you."

A comfortable silence filled the otherwise moderately bare room, and Violet carefully shifted on the bed, cuddling up into Clementine's side. The brunette hesitated for a small moment, but she mindfully placed her arms around Violet's shoulders, pressing the blonde against her tighter. For a second time, she allowed her eyes to wander around, and once again they fell upon the small robin resting in it's nest. As if on cue, the small bird started to shift in its place and it opened its eyes, revealing two shiny orbs that reflected the beautiful, alluring starlight that now alighted from the glimmering night's sky. Upon the bird's awakening, Clementine felt a feeling rise in her chest, as if something had awoken within herself, too. The bird blinked once, then twice and even for a third time, and then spread its small, but still majestic wings and turned around to face the dark, yet still inviting emptiness of the woodlands around the school. It looked over its shoulder one more time to meet the musician's gaze, tilting its head curiously as it did so, and then took off swiftly. As the bird soared away through the dimly lit sky, Clementine briefly glanced down at Violet, who had fallen asleep on her shoulder and was snoring softly. Violet's soft, blonde locks laid messily on Clementine's shoulder, who before hadn't even known that shoulder-length hair could even be that untidy. It aroused a soft chuckle from the brunette's throat, and when she looked outside her window one last time, she noticed the reason that the eyes of the robin had appeared so vibrant a mere minute ago. In the middle of the peaceful night's sky, levitated a full moon that marked the new chapter of life both Clementine and Violet would be entering as soon as dusk would fall upon them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	23. Chapter 23

"Okay… but let's say I just eat her ass instead?"

"Isa,  _ no _ . The point of this game is, sadly for you, not to eat the opponent's ass as quickly as you can. And especially not Sophie's."

"Okay… but what if I still did it?"

"Then I think Mitch would deck the absolute shit out of you."

"Meh, whatever. I can take him."

"What the fuck, no you can't."

"I was talking about taking his cock full-length, not taking him on in a figh-"

"Is that a majestic chime of the word cock I hear?"

"My god, fucking kill me. Clementine, please stay out of this. I'm trying to get Isa to understand go-karting and I don't think she will ever get that the objective is in fact not related to eating someone's ass, but instead racing the fastest lap."

"What?! Go-karting? I thought you were trying to explain to be how paintball worked! I know how to go-kart, don't worry," Isa said proudly, "Last time I did this however, I ended up injuring my uncle and he had to rehabilitate for around three months because I fractured his vertebrae. Oh yeah, and I caused both of my little cousins to cry because I rammed into their karts so much. It was a good day."

"This bitch crazy, I swear to God," Elijah mumbled, "This makes me breaking my aunt's arm while playing chess sound so weak."

"How do you break someone's arm while playing chess?!"

"If you add enough velocity to a light object, you can still hurt people they asses. I, however, did not realize you could break someone's arm with a goddamn pawn. I did the math however. The pawn I threw weighed about 5 grams and it takes about 4000 newtons of force to break a human femur. Now, this means that in order to break her arm, we need to take those things and do the following. 4000 = 0.05 * v. Now, if we calculate that, you'll see that I'd have to have thrown the pawn at about 80,000 meters per second, or 49.71 miles per second, which seems fairly reasonable."

"Is that even correct?"

"Nigga, I don't know."

"...Okay then. How about we actually go go-karting now?" Violet groaned, "Well, you guys anyway."

"Go-karting? I thought we were going to the cinema to watch the new Star Wars film!" Clementine exclaimed.

"Why the fuck would we go to a cinema with Violet?!" Louis yelled, "She can't see a thing!"

"Oh yeah, so your dumbass was like, 'Mhm, Violet can't watch a movie. Let's go fucking  _ go-karting. _ '"

"Well, how was I supposed to know that wouldn't work?"

"Maybe because she's blind? And, you know, that means that she can't see? And therefore can't drive a fucking go-kart?"

"Well, I'm sorry! Maybe you can just take her to do something else then, if you care so much!" Louis huffed, crossing his arms and glaring at the just as short-fused brunette. 

"I will!" Clementine yelled as she grabbed Violet by her arm and led her towards the exit of the building and towards one of the cars they had once again stolen from the teachers. This time, they'd taken the cars of, once again, Luke and their biology teacher, who still no one had cared to remember the name of. The biology teacher did however own a Tesla Model S, so which car Clementine was going to take was easy pickings. 

"Let's take Luke's Nissan Cube. That thing's so damn ugly, it needs a bit of love," the musician mused out loud, navigating towards the car and helping Violet get there as well. 

"I thought you said he owned a Chrystal PT Cruiser?"

"Well, he did, but he decided he needed an upgrade or something. Can't say this thing looks any better, nor is it an upgrade, but he's gotta do him, right? If he wants to drive a shitshack, then he should."

"So… where are you planning on taking me?" Violet asked nervously. 

"Figured we could go to Chick-Fil-A again, since you seemed to love it so much last time. I dunno, really. What activities are fun with someone who's blind? A lot of things require eyesight… Damn, I suck at this dating thing."

"D-Date?"

"Well… yeah. You remember our conversation from last night, right?"

"...Yeah, I do."

"Well, then. This is the date I was talking about. Unless you don't want to of course, that'd be fi-"

"NO! I mean, I'd like to go on a date, yeah. It'd be fun, I think."

Violet continued to sputter around any words that came to her mind, trying to find a way to put her thoughts into words. After some time, she realized Clementine wasn't responding at all, but instead stayed as quiet as the dead of night. 

"...Clem?"

***

"Get off your ass, sis! We barely know anyone here and the arrival of the new kids can be a perfect opportunity for us to get some new friends!" Sophie said, rising from her bed and walking towards the wooden door that sealed their room from the outside world. By the side of the door stood her shoes, which she picked up quickly, grabbing the ones belonging to her sister also. 

Minerva spoke in an unimpressed manner, "But what if I don't want to? What if I'd rather stay here and play guitar all day?"

"I wouldn't be able to stop you from doing so, but for your own sake, I'd try getting at least one more friend. Desolation isn't a good thing, you never even go outside! Your skin will turn more pale than it already is and before you know it your fangs will start growing and you'll turn into a vampire or something," Sophie sighed. She looked at her twin sister, who still sat on the bed, clearly not impressed. 

"Wouldn't that be kind of cool though? Just imagine, Minerva the Vampire. That'd make for an awesome fanfiction, wouldn't it? Where I chase whatever person the readers love most and eventually eat them alive."

" _ No _ , that would  _ not  _ be cool. We don't need Minerva fanfictions."

"I'll bet you five bucks they already exist out there somewhere."

"Mhm, yeah right. I don't think any author would allow their readers to go through such suffering."

Minerva shrugged her shoulders excessively and allowed herself to lie down on her back, stretching her body and cracking a few of the joints in her hand. She lazily glanced outside the window and yawned. "Whatever. I'll just stay here all day, you can go make some friends." 

"You know what, Minnie?" Sophie started, shaking her head. "No. You're coming with me and I don't care what you have to say about it."

"And what if I don't?"

"I'll feed you spiders in your sleep, and we both know that I'm not joking."

"Jeez, fine. I'm coming, relax," Minerva said, standing up from her bed and also putting on her shoes, "I mean, whatever right?"

"Minnie, you don't have to act so 'cool' all the time. I'm your sister, you're allowed to just be yourself. I know that this 'tough girl' imagine that you're always trying to put on isn't the real you. I just don't want you to do it so much before you actually become the person you're trying to be. I don't want to lose the sister that I've always loved, and while you were never an easy person, your behavior has worsened so much more since we were sent to this hellhole. Just, stay true to yourself, okay? I don't want to lose you, because I love you."

"Oh my god, enough of the sappy shit. Cut it out," Minerva groaned loudly, walking straight for the door without sparing Sophie a second glance. 

"Whatever," Sophie sighed inaudibly as she followed her sister outside. 

As soon as the twins made their way onto the courtyard, they saw the signature green school bus that had just parked in front of the school and students were already flowing out of it, albeit not as smoothly as Mr. McKenzie had hoped. 

"FUCK AFF! WHIT ARE YE DOIN'! PUT HER DOUN, YE CANAE USE HER AS A FUCKIN' BASEBALL BAT, YE DAFT CUNT!"

"That's going smoothly," Sophie muttered softly, searching the crowd for any faces that appealed to her. 

"Why do they all look like fucking assholes?" Minerva snarked, shaking her head at the students, most of which were younger than they are. But then, someone caught her eye. 

A girl around their age with brown hair and hazel eyes stepped off the bus and confidently onto the courtyard. Minnie tilted her head curiously, thinking to herself.  _ Huh, interesting.  _

"And, Minnie? See anyone you might like?" Sophie asked sarcastically. 

"Yes, actually. See that short brunette girl over there?" Minerva asked as she pointed in the girl's general direction, "Let's talk to her. She's cute."

"I never thought the day would come," Sophie muttered to herself as she followed Minerva towards this new girl, who seemingly was very sure of herself. 

"Hey there! Who might you be?" Minerva asked happily as she approached the new girl, "My name's Minerva, and this is my sister Sophie. Would you allow me to show you around?"

The girl looked between Minnie and Sophie in a manner that could be described as rather unimpressed, "You don't have to fake your enthusiasm. I suppose you were simply assigned to show me around, which is fine. I'm Clementine."

"We weren't assigned a thing, we're doing this voluntarily," Minerva grinned, approaching Clementine and throwing her arm around her shoulder, "My sister and I, when we were walking outside, agreed that we'd show around the prettiest person of the group, and it was you!"

"Very flattering. Will you go on a date with me?" Clementine remarked sarcastically, shaking Minerva's arm off her shoulder. 

"Why, yes! I'll gladly go on a date with you," Minerva laughed, "Just kidding! Unless…"

"You're just trying to get my fingers slammed up your cunt, aren't you?" Clementine grinned, "But if you don't wanna go on a date, then that's fine."

_ "NO! I mean, I'd like to go on a date, yeah. It'd be fun, I think." _

***

"Clem?"

"Mhm, what?"

"You were silent for like, ten minutes. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'll take us to Chick-fil-A."

*******

"ELIJAH!"

"WHAT!?"

"How big is your cock?"

"The hell, dude?" Elijah asked, weirded out. 

"Okay, now that I've got your attention, let me tell me tell you about the time I went to Amsterdam. Queue the theme song music, it's time for: 'The epic storytellings of Isa and her remote controlled vibrator'! On today's episode, we'll be talking about the time I went to Amsterdam."

Louis shook his head defensively, "Nah ah, I'm not doing this again. Last time I listened to one of her epic storytellings of her and her remote controlled vibrator it took three hours and it was mostly just her laughing at herself before she'd even said anything!"

"Louis, quiet! You're upsetting my remote controlled vibrator. Now, if you'll let me, I'll take you to the world of Amsterdam, where I encountered some of the weirdest shit of my life. Okay, so first thing's first, one of the main things they had  _ everywhere _ , was something they called bitterballen and there's no English word for it."

"Wow, how interesting."

"Shut the fuck up Louis, I wasn't done. Anyway, they're basically these ping pong ball sized, crunchy deep fried meatballs or something. But inside there's this beef ragout or something, doesn't sound that bad, right?"

"No. No, it doesn't."

"Right, but you know what these weird ass Dutch people do to them?"

"I haven't the slightest clue. Do continue telling, I find this very interesting."

"They drown them in mustard.  _ Mustard! _ I mean, what the hell? And what I mean drown, I mean  _ drown _ ."

"Woah, that's  _ so  _ terrific."

"I KNOW RIGHT?! But it's not just mustard, they drown them in fucking ketchup and mayonnaise too! And sometimes even  _ both  _ ketchup and mayonnaise!"

"Okay, that actually sounds rancid," Elijah groaned, "They eat that shit?"

"They eat it like fucking pigs! I've seen multiple people eat ten of those things on their own!"

"God damn, that's disgusting." 

"But that's enough of that," Isa continued enthusiastically, "The reason I was in Amsterdam in the first place is because I have very distant family there and one of their sons turned eighteen, which is a big deal, obviously. Now, we know eighteenth birthday parties as these insane get togethers with insane flashing lights and dancing and alcohol right?"

"That we do."

"Well, in the Netherlands they just sit in a god damn circle with a cup of tea of coffee and a slice of cake and then just  _ talk _ ."

"That doesn't sound too bad…" Elijah muttered quietly, "But I wouldn't do something like that at a  _ birthday party _ . That's what you do for like, a reunion or something."

"FOR AN ENTIRE DAY! I'd never seen anything like it before!"

"...Okay, that's pretty bad."

"Anyway, after the party I went to this gay bar and had a foursome with three cute girls, it was pretty amaz-"

"ISA! We're still inside a fucking grocery store here!" Louis said harshly. 

"Mommy, what's a foursome?" 

"Isa, this is why you need to shut the fuck up sometimes!" Louis hissed as he turned around and profusely apologized to the mom of the girl that looked like she was around five years old. 

Isa shrugged briefly and turned towards Elijah. "So… what do you think Violet and Clementine are up to? Those lovebirds left like three hours ago and I haven't heard anything from them, which I feel is a good thing, but I sent this hilarious meme to Clementine and I want her to react to it."

"Well," Elijah said, "I'd figure that their date is a bit more of a priority to Clementine right now than a meme that you sent her."

"No no, Elijah. You see, the meme life is way of life that you choose.  _ Nothing  _ is more important than memes, and especially the one that I sent her."

"Okay… what's the meme?"

"It's a zoomed in picture of an apple that says 'jonathan'." 

"...That's it?"

"Yup, it's fucking hilarious."

"Sometimes I really do wonder wh-"

"GUYS!" Louis yelled as he came running back to his friends, "We need to get fucking going."

"What's wrong?"

"It's Sophie, she needs our help. She was very vague but she was panicking so much and I don't know what the fuck was going on and I'm scared and we need to fucking go!"

"Well, fuck."

"What are we waiting for!? Go! "


	24. Chapter 24

“Well that was a lot quicker than I thought it would be.”

“Wait seriously? All of that freaking out and road rage and we made it  _ earlier _ than you thought?”

“It’s not fucking road rage and freaking out if we’re on our way to something important and people can’t see that we’re in a fucking hurry!”

“Clem, I-I really don’t think that going to Chick-Fil-A counts as an emergency.” Violet slightly stuttered out, turning her head away from the brunette’s voice as she unbuckled her seatbelt and felt for the door handle. 

The blonde let out a shallow breath to calm the rising anxieties and nerves rising in the pit of her stomach to remain composed for today’s events and her first official “date” with the very brash and everso confident teen in the driver’s seat who continued to mumble obscenities and a colorful array of slurs that couldn’t quite catch with the rate she was speaking. Although Violet did feel sorry for the apparent grandma who was going to end up with a flaming drag queen wig shoved up her “geriatrically-impaired chocolate starfish looking ass”

Violet then felt a familiar, calloused hand on top of her shoulder holding it gingerly as to remind the blonde of the other's presence in the car, having nodded at the small gesture, Clementine quickly exits the car and makes her way to the passenger’s side door and opened it in a flash. Before Violet could protest about the help, Clementine had already grabbed her hand and helped her out of the car, her arm snaking around the blonde’s shoulders while she slammed the car door and locked them in succession. The gesture not going unnoticed by Violet who’s face visibly brightened and her body tensed at the initiative taken by the shorter girl.

They continued to the front door of the restaurant in a miniscule amount of awkward silence, Violet’s tension seemingly glued to her muscles as the brunette’s body heat mixed with her own at the closeness of the two teens. Feeling the mid-afternoon sun attacking their backs, Clementine is all but ready to enter the cool interior of the establishment, but not before addressing the growing elephant in the parking lot.

“You like me.” Clementine says bluntly, unsurprisingly feeling the blonde jerk slightly at her blank tone before turning her pale forest green eyes up to Clementine’s pair of amber eyes.

“Y-yeah I do.” Violet responds timidly, wondering where the brunette was going with this conversation.

“And I think I like you too.” Clementine began, grateful that Violet couldn’t see her slightly rosy face and eyes trying to focus on any moving thing as she tried to get her next words out without sounding like a complete dumbass. 

“Which is why I wanted to do this today, so we can be open with it being so sudden. Nothing’s worse than being fake you know? If I’m just gonna make you uncomfortable...just let me know okay? I’ll go back to the car and drive you back to the school and we can just forget I ever tried this stupid plan in the first place.” Clementine finished, removing her arm from the girl’s shoulders in an uncharacteristically insecure movement. The action shocking Violet along with the brunette’s words hitting her ears as she attempted to process the information she was just given.

Truthfully, Violet was more than excited to be out alone with Clementine, she had always wanted to get closer to the other teen even after their falling out and Clementine was never one for a plan in advance. Which is exactly why Violet felt even more nervous than she usually did in this situation, The absence of a plan feared her, even more so now that her blindness quite literally left her in the dark about everything. The unknown terrified her, whether it came to just going out most days or dealing with other topics on hand.

Such as being on a first date with the girl she has had feelings for since they were properly introduced for the first time. 

Violet then felt a wave of confidence wash over her as she confronted her fear of the unknown. For too long she’s sat back and refused to take risks and it’s only gotten her so far, maybe now was the time to take the leap and cross the finish line herself rather than hope for the best and wait around. And so, Violet let her confidence take over as she fumbled for the Clementine’s arm and took a moment to feel the smooth contours of her muscles before she did the boldest thing she could do in her situation.

Violet placed Clementine’s arm back around her shoulders and smiled in the direction of the teen next to her.

“You’re not making me uncomfortable, it was just a lot to take in all at once but I want to do this with you.” Violet said while keeping her smile. “So can we PLEASE get some damn chicken nuggets now? I’m starving after that drag race you put me through on the way over here.” Violet finished with a chuckle, internally patting herself on the back when she heard Clementine gasp dramatically at her last statement.

“First off, that was nowhere near a drag race Vi, your little ass would’ve been a puddle in the passenger’s seat if I wanted to outspeed those corpses on the road.” The brunette declared proudly, opening the door for herself and the girl around her arm as they entered the all too familiar setting of the restaurant. 

Clementine had always enjoyed coming to Chick-Fil-A. There was always something about the red cushioned seats and beige interior that struck her as unique in a totally not unique way. The many families, friends, and dates alike came by and sat around, enjoying the pleasant behavior of the employees and the delicious tasting food and drink while the children laughed and screamed inside the indoor playground. Looking over at the multicolored tube slides and foam padding on the floor of the playground, Clementine couldn’t help but feel her sense of youth and wonder increase. If Violet wasn’t there with her, she would’ve probably been asked to leave already for causing mayhem amongst the handful of children while she tried to go down the slides and enjoy the feeling of youth through her veins once again.

_ But...the feeling of a cute girl around my arm is definitely a big plus in itself. Hold up, did I just say cute? The fuck is happening to me? _

The brunette shook the cobwebs out of her head and headed towards the cashier with Violet by her side, the blonde having already closed her eyes and is being swept away by the multitude of sounds and smells invading her senses, all while feeling the warmth of Clementine’s body next to her as she kept a protective grip around the blonde’s shoulder to assure she wouldn’t get left behind as she always liked to do. Clementine tightened her grip on Violet’s shoulder reassuringly every few minutes while they waited in line and waited to take their order to the bespectacled teen in front of the register.

“Hello! Welcome to Chick-Fil-A, what can I get for you this fine day?” The glasses wearing teen said in a noticeably rehearsed tone, his small smile and bright eyes watching the girls in front of him while his finger hovered over the machine in front of him, eager to finish the transaction and move onto the next customer in tow.

“Yeah, let me get a spicy chicken sandwich, an order of chicken nuggets and a lemonade.” Clementine ordered for herself. The teen in front of her quickly punching in the order as he eyed Violet in anticipation. 

“Vi Vi, you’re up.” Clementine whispered to the teen next to her. Violet scrunched her face in concentration and began drumming her fingers against her pant leg as she thought of what to order. The hat wearing teen couldn’t help but notice all the unconscious things Violet did that she thought people wouldn’t notice. The little uniquities that made the blind girl around her arm all the more interesting whenever she was deep in thought or felt uncomfortable.

“An order of chicken nuggets and a lemonade for me too please.” Violet answered quietly to the teen behind the counter who nodded along before handing the teens their receipt. 

“Will that be for here or to go?”

“For here” Clementine said, seemingly finished before getting whacked in the stomach lightly by Violet. “...please.” she finished while handing the cashier a few bills and turning Violet towards a nearby booth. “Was that really necessary? It’s kinda their job to ask that simple question.” The teen asked curiously.

“Of course the please was necessary. These people work hard, it’s not a crime to show a little kindness now and then.” Violet explained with a nod, sliding into the booth with a deft movement as she heard Clementine do the same in the booth in front of her. 

“So you’re telling me that you always say please and thank you to restaurant employees?” 

“Yup.”

“Bullshit!”

“I’m serious. There’s no harm in it, so why not show some human decency?” Violet commented nonchalantly, picking at her fingernails as the rumbling in her stomach refused to stop. “God I’m starving! Is it ready yet?”

Clementine checked the time on her phone with a shake of her head. “Nope, a few more minutes I’m afraid.” She responded before an idea popped into her head. “How about we do a question game while we wait? One person asks, the other answers. Kinda like a speed dating thing except slow as shit.” 

Violet pondered the idea and nodded, a question already in her mind since they left the cashier. “Alright I got one for you: How did you pay for the food?”

“Uh, with money? You have super hearing don’t you? Can’t you figure out what bills I used to pay for it just from the sound of the dollar or some shit like that?” The brunette chuckled along with the blonde who continued to hold her ground despite the laughter.

“No I mean, you don’t carry cash on you...ever. You didn’t steal Luke’s wallet did you?” Violet asks incredulously while the brunette continued to laugh at her accusations.

“No I would never! Let’s just say I have a very nice sugar daddy that gives me a very big allowance every week to pay for my things in exchange for protection.” Clementine explained mysteriously, a smirk playing on her lips.

“Protection? Protection from who?” Violet wondered out loud.

“Me.” Clementine responded bluntly.

“You stole Lou’s wallet didn’t you?” 

“In my defense, he wanted to take you go-karting. That idiot was practically begging me to take his rights to cash away from him!” The teen explained herself, sharing another laugh with her date as their food arrived to the table, Violet encouraging Clementine to mutter a quick “Thank you” before separating the food and digging in.

“God this is so good!” Violet said with a bite of chicken nugget in her mouth. Clementine smiling to herself at the girl’s happiness and cheery attitude change now that her food was here. 

The two teens continued asking random questions and making small talk, the tension completely vanishing from the two teens as they talked about music, school, friends, and how their day was going. Halfway through the conversation however, Clementine began to notice that VIolet was down to her last nugget while she still had her full container after only eaten her sandwich. She opened her box of nuggets and while Violet was in the middle of taking a sip of her drink, quickly pulled a switcheroo and placed the empty box on her side of the booth and placing the full one near Violet’s hand. Although the blonde would surely notice the change, Clementine still felt just as happy to see her face light up at the newly refilled box as she began to rifle through warm nuggets under her touch.

_ Fuck yeah! Definitely got some points there. Indiana Jones can eat my ass! Well...I wouldn’t exactly say no to that but still. _

“Hey, you didn’t have to do that you know. If you’re still hungry you can take these back.” Violet chimed in suddenly, her smile almost gone as she looked across the booth, hoping that Clementine wasn’t offended at her response to her sweet gesture.

However, Clementine refused to take no for an answer. “Nah it’s all good, eat as much as you want, I got them for you anyway.”

“Really? How’d you know I’d eat so many?” 

“Well you kinda inhale any nuggets in arms length so I think it’s safe to say that you weren’t gonna be satisfied with just one box.” Clementine said smugly much to the blonde’s delight at her correct assumption as she grabbed a nugget and threw it into her mouth. “Speaking of those details, want to continue our game?” She continued in a softer tone, a strange question plaguing her mind and was eating at her.

“Yeah totally.” Violet responded nonchalantly. “Let’s see, the last thing we said was that I once freaked Brody out by sleeping all day because she thought I was depressed. In reality, I just stayed up really late listening to music and forgot that sleep was a thing.” Violet giggled shyly at the memory and Brody’s reaction to her explanation the next morning. “That would make it…your turn Clem.” 

The usually brash teen remained silent for a few moments, her nature taking an unexpected flip as the question on her mind came tumbling out of her mouth in the next moment, shocking both the blonde and Clementine alike at the vulnerability of the question at hand.

“Why do you like me?” Clementine said softly.

“W-What?” Violet coughed out her drink at the question. Breathing deeply to regain precious oxygen as she struggled to believe the rough and tough teen in front of her really asked her something so quietly and unlike her.

“Why do you like me? It’s not a hard question Vi. Now asking me if I’d rather have a cock shoved up my ass or my mouth fucked is a harder question.” Clementine tried to take back the conversation while choosing to ignore the butterflies in her stomach and the redness on her face that was beginning to grow in intensity.

“Where is this coming from, Clem?” Violet asked curiously, much to Clementine’s dismay of having to explain herself further.

“It’s just...I know I’m a dick.” Clementine began, placing her hands on the table to avoid picking at them while she spoke. “Yeah I say shit people don’t like to hear, I speak my mind and do whatever the fuck I want, whenever I fucking want to. It’s who I am. Sure I could change and be fake around people but that’s not who I am. Being fake is for bullshitters and politicians, and since I refuse to wear a suit or blow the president, being me is all I can be.” Clementine explained, her voice wavering in confidence at her attempts at being open with the girl she wanted her answers from. “I’m not everyone’s first choice and I’m fine with that, but with you, I’ve treated you like shit and you’re still wanting to be with me. I practically threw you into Minerva’s arms and you still hang around me. Why?” 

And there it was. For the first time since their first meeting, Violet had been exposed to the real Clementine. Not just the brash and semi-charming person she was in front of people, but the person on the inside who was the exact same but still struggled with her feelings just like any other teenager. Once again, the brunette left the blonde speechless, but this time it felt different. It was the silence of understanding how the brunette felt. She understood her pain of wondering why people choose to be her friend and stick around through her disability and pain of her past. That understanding was Clementine’s first step into giving her all into this date and potential relationship that could blossom from it.

Violet placed her hand on the table palm up and tapped it twice with the other, smiling softly when she felt the warmly calloused hand of the brunette put her own hand into hers and grip it tightly. Taking a breath to hold her resolve, Violet stared in the direction of Clementine’s voice as she let her heart take over and answer Clementine’s question directly.

“I like you because of who you are as a person, Clem. Not just the person you want people to see, but the person you are on the inside whenever we’re alone together. The person who makes sure I don’t hurt myself on our way to classes. The person who lets me listen to her play music and the person who threatens to beat people down or stick something up a person’s something for even looking at me wrong. Sure, we’ve both had our hardships, but look at us now. We’re at a very nice fast food place with food paid for by a stolen wallet and enjoying each other’s company like an actual couple. I don’t like you for any singular reason, Clem. I like you for just being you.” Violet responded honestly, her face bursting into a deep blush the longer she continued to ramble in hopes of being able to convey her true feelings to the girl in front of her. Even though she hadn’t heard anything from her in a few moments, she felt reassured that her grip still remained strong in her hand and seemingly had no intention of letting go.

For a few moments, Clementine sat there in stunned silence at Violet’s confession, her face feeling hotter by the second and her usual witty comebacks coming up empty at such a sweet moment with the girl she cared so much for. 

“I think...I like you for you too.” Clementine said meekly before mentally kicking herself for her behavior. “Shit sorry, you know I’m bad at this sappy shit but I really do care about you and I hope we can make this work.”

Violet smiled knowingly at the brunette’s antics and places her free hand over the other girl’s lovingly. “It’s okay, Clem. Just be yourself, it’s who I grew to like after all.”

“So does that mean we can go to the bathroom and fuck the shit out of each other in celebration of a brand new relationship happening? Or as Louis would call it: A new ship finally setting sail?” Clementine asked innocently, wiggling her eyebrows mainly for the joke knowing full well the blonde couldn’t see her do so who only laughed and rolled her eyes at the girl’s question.

“Well for one, we just ate so definitely not. And two, I’d much rather just get back to the dorms, hang out with you in your room and just chill for the rest of the day after this amazing time. ” Violet said, her smile growing tenfold after such a meaningful time together with Clementine being a success.

“Good idea, we can even stop by Sophie’s on the way. Her and Lou are going to want to know how the date shit went anyways. Plus something tells me she’s gonna want to borrow my noise cancelling headphones for tonight.” 

“Clem!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	25. Chapter 25

"Okay… so now all I have to do is put back Luke's keys where I found them and hope he never realized they were missing."

"Don't the teachers usually leave at around 8pm?"

"Yup."

"And isn't it like 11.30pm?"

"Yup."

"So… he probably realized they were missing."

"Yup. But that's fine! I'll just say I found them and came to bring them back."

"My god," Violet sighed, shaking her head, "Y'know, you're such a weirdo."

"Yeah, but apparently you dig that. So who's the real weirdo here? It's both of us!"

"Whatever," Violet mumbled as she grabbed Clementine's arm when they got out of the car. The brunette simply shrugged and locked the door of the infamous Chrysler and led Violet towards the admin building, where she'd have her wait outside while she returned Luke's car keys to the teachers' room. As Clementine traversed the building, the eerie ambience of the admin building started to get to her. It wasn't like she was scared, not at all, but there simply was something about the style of the building and the way everything seemed to look down on her. 

Once Clementine had reached the teachers' room, she softly knocked on the door and peeked inside, instantly spotting Luke who had crashed on one of the couches, specifically the one with a terrible flower print. The musician silently walked over to him, softly tapping his shoulder to wake her teacher, but attempting not to scare him in the process. 

"OH MY FUCKING BITCH FUCK, WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"Luke, relax! It's me. I found your car keys on the courtyard, figured you might want them back," Clementine whispered, shushing the older man in the process. '

"Huh? Oh, right. Thanks, Clem."

"You're welcome."

"Wait, what are you doing out of bed at this ti-"

"Bye, gotta go!" Clementine yelled, bolting out of the door and instantly running down the stairs and throwing open the door leading into the courtyard, scaring Violet in the process. 

"Clem! What the hecking nuggets was that doo doo all about?"

"Mhm? Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it. Let's go inside."

"If you say so."

The brunette took her date's arm and helped her traverse across the courtyard, even though the blonde had grown very accustomed to the terrain during the past few months. A chilly gust of wind stroked Violet's neck, sending shill shivers down her spine and making her skin crawl ever so slightly. She gently shook her arms to lessen the feeling of the goose bumps covering her skin. 

"CLEM! Fucking finally, we've been waiting for God knows how long for you to get back!"

"Louis? What's up?" Clementine questioned, noticing a tall figure appearing from the darkness of the dorms' corridors. 

"Dude, it's Minerva. She's gone fucking nuts and we don't know what the fuck to do."

"Ah, fuck," Clementine hissed, letting go of Violet and running towards Louis, "Nuts in what way? Who's she hurt this time?"

"Herself."

Clementine fell quiet for a few seconds. "...Herself?"

"Uh, yeah… Herself and a bunch of her belongings. Sophie's really stressed, Mitch took her elsewhere to calm her down and everyone else already went to their own rooms as soon as we got back. I would go get them but they were all asleep, and-"

"You really think they value sleepover making sure Sophie is okay? Fucking dumbass," Clementine muttered, "But whatever! Why do you need  _ me _ ?"

"I don't know! You've got like, a certain way with words or something. Neither me, Sophie or Mitch could calm her down and we seriously are out of options at this point. I doubt Isa would be any help, Elijah doesn't know who she is, if we ever told this to Brody she wouldn't sleep for sixty four weeks straight, there's just no good options here."

"Fucking fine then! Take me to her, whatever. I'll see what I can do."

Instantly, Louis took a tight grip of Clementine's arm and dragged her inside the building roughly, running as fast as he could with the small brunette at his side. 

"Okay, so what the fuck should I expect to see?" Clementine asked. 

"Well, Minerva's side of the room is trashed, there's blood and Minerva is a fucking mess. That's about it."

"So what the fuck happened?"

"We don't know! We simply came back from go-karting and then we went to Sophie's room and Minerva was just there screeching and breaking shit and hitting herself viciously."

"FUCK OFF!"

"Minnie, please! I'm trying to help you!"

"Oh fuck," Louis sighed, "Who the shit let Sophie back in that room? That's a recipe for disaster, man."

"I don't want your help! Please, just leave me alone!" Minerva cried, clawing her own face heavily enough to break the skin as she rolled up into a ball on her bed.

"You've said that a thousand fucking times over the last years and everytime I fucking listened, but not today! What the hell is happening to you? TALK TO ME!"

"Sophie…" Mitch interrupted, "Maybe it's better to leave her be for now and try to talk to her later… She's very upset right now, I personally don't think you can get through to her when she's like this."

"Shut the  _ fuck  _ up, Mitch! Don't you even  _ dare  _ try to tell me how to talk to  _ my  _ sister!"

Clenching his jaw and fists, the tall boy shrugged. "Fine, figure it out by yourself then. I don't fucking care," he said through gritted teeth, instantly turning around and leaving the room. 

"Sophie! What the hell, dude?!" Louis yelled as Mitch walked past him through the door opening, "You're gonna regret that."

"I don't care if I'm gonna regret shit, I don't care how much shit's she's pulled, my sister is more important than my boyfriend!"

"You're lucky he's not in the room. He'd have fucking flipped if he heard you think Minerva is more important to you than him," Clementine mumbled, "Sophie, move your ass."

Sophie shook her head and looked at Clementine baffledly, "I'm sorry, what?"

"I said, move your ass. Now. It's not a fucking question."

"Oh, what're you gonna do? Make my sister's life even more unbearable? Look at her, she's fucking torn ap-" Sophie wasn't able to finish her sentence as Clementine grabbed her hair roughly and pulled her off the bed onto the floor. Looming over her, she stared Sophie in the eyes intensely. 

"I'm gonna say this  _ one  _ more time. You're gonna move your ass and leave this fucking room. Louis, " Clementine turned around to face the dreadlocked boy, "same goes for you unless you want to receive similar treatment. Don't any come into this fucking room until you see me leave it. Got it?"

Without skipping a beat, Louis ran over to Sophie, quickly taking her hand and dragged her out of the room. When Clementine heard the door click behind her, she took a deep breath and slowly walked over to Minerva. 

"Minerva, spill. What's up?"

"Like you fucking care," Minerva spat, attempting to push Clementine off her. 

"If I didn't care, would I have thrown everyone out of this room to talk to you privately? Fucking spill, I'm not that patient of a person."

"I don't believe for one second you care about me or what I do with my life."

"Ah, you hit the nail right on the head. I indeed don't, but I do care about Sophie. And the way you've been treating her and the people around you for fucking years now has hurt her so fucking much, and now you're pulling shit like this? You should be fucking ashamed. You're going to fucking tell me what's wrong and I'm gonna help you fix it and I'll sit her for forever if that's how long it takes. You're not gonna hurt Sophie and others even more than you already have."

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE!"

"What?"

Minerva opened her mouth and paused, "None of your business."

"Minerva, I'm an inch away from punching your teeth out. Do you think I  _ like  _ being here and playing fucking therapist? I don't, and I don't think you like it either. You've done terrible shit to me, my future girlfriend and countless other people so don't you  _ dare  _ play the victim. If you'd asked for help all of this could've been prevented. But no, you chose to ignore your demons and let them develop further. I, under no circumstances, will ever feel sorry for you, but I do want to prevent you from making even more people's lives hell. So, now, you're gonna fucking  _ talk  _ and I'm gonna  _ listen  _ to what you have to say and we're gonna fucking fix it. Am I clear?"

"I don't want your fucking help."

"I DON'T FUCKING CARE, YOU'RE GETTING IT!" 

"Aye bruh what's all this yelling about?" someone asked as they came walking into the room. 

"ISA! Get the hell out of there!" Louis yelled as he ran after her, grabbing her shoulder and attempting to drag her outside. 

"Nah dude, there's yelling! I want in on the fun," she responded, looking at Clementine and Minerva, "What's all that blood about? Clem, come on! If you were gonna beat up Minerva you could've at least told me, I'd have loved to join you!"

"Isa," Clementine said through gritted teeth, "Leave this fucking room,  _ now _ ."

"Aye, I'm sorry daddy. Please forgive me," Isa said, grinning as she turned around and left the room.

When the door slammed shut, the room was overcome with silence for a few minutes, in which Clementine breathed slowly to try and keep her composure while Minerva just sat on the bed, slowly starting to sob. This soft sobbing awakened an insane sense of anger within Clementine, and she started cracking her knuckles in order to not lash out. 

"Minerva, I'm not stupid, y'know?"

The redhead raised her head and looked at Clementine through her tear-ridden eyes,"What do you mean?"

"I'm ninety nine percent sure I know what's wrong. The thing is, you're not gonna fix that by laying on your bed crying. I can't fucking do this anymore, so I'm gonna leave. But let me give you one final piece of advice, you have to  _ face your demons _ instead of being a pussy and letting said demons take over. Have a good night."

With that, Clementine shook her head and stood up from the bed and walked towards the door, opening it and seeing Louis sitting against the wall across from the door. The boy immediately stood up and hugged his friend tightly. "How'd it go?" he asked softly. 

"Fucking terrible. Where's everyone?"

Louis tightened the hug and sighed, "Mitch locked himself in his room, wouldn't let anyone in and obviously not even Sophie. This led to Sophie running outside crying even harder than before and I'm pretty sure she's still outside crying. Isa went into a random room and seduced the girls there, y'know, the usual for her. Violet never even came here, she just went to her room immediately after you two returned. That's about it, I think."

"Okay then. That's not good, is it?"

"I'd say it's comparable to gobbling Mr. McKenzie's nutsack."

"To be fair, I wouldn't mind gobbling his nutsack. He's hot as hell," Clementine shrugged.

"I don't see what others see in him, but okay," Louis grinned, "Anyway… I think I'm gonna go look for Sophie. It's already late and we don't need her roaming outside at night. You go to sleep, you look like you need it." 

"Thanks, I will."

The two walked along towards Clementine's room, where Louis wished his best friend goodnight again and they then parted ways. Louis silently walked outside, not wanting to wake anymore students as Clementine, Sophie Minerva already had my screaming at each other. The dreadlocked boy, obviously knowing Sophie really well, immediately assumed that the redhead had gone to her favourite spot outside of the school's grounds. A tree that had fallen over next to the small stream, forming a small cavity that looked like a cave. The sediment existed primarily out of pebbles and rocks, so she would always sit there and stone skip to clear her mind. It wasn't a long walk, and assuming the girl had run, it wouldn't have taken her more than five minutes to reach it. 

And, sure enough, after Louis had walked for a few minutes, he could already hear the distant sobbing of the girl he was looking for. He quickened his pace and, sitting in the moonlight underneath the branch, he saw Sophie sitting there, crying her eyes out while aggressively throwing rocks into the water. 

"Hey, Soph," he greeted as he slowly lowered himself next to her, "How're you feeling?"

"Fuck off," she muttered as a response, not bothering to look up at him, "You didn't even try to stop her."

Louis blinked confusedly, "What? Stop who?"

"CLEMENTINE! You saw her attack me and you didn't do jack shit! Now, fuck off and let me drown in my own pit of self-hatred, please."

"You're mad at me?" Louis asked, absolutely baffled, "This isn't mine or Clem's fault, it's Minnie's!"

"Oh, you think you can just use my sister as a fucking piss pole for everything? You can't shove all the blame of everything onto her just because she's done shit! It wasn't her fault that Clementine attacked me and it also wasn't her fault you didn't do jack shit to stop her!"

"First of all, attack is a very big word. She pulled your hair. Second of all, if Minnie wouldn't have acted up, none of this would've happened. So, she indirectly did cause all of it," Louis said clearly, raising his voice lightly. 

"Louis, I'm less than half an inch away from punching your teeth out, and Clementine's too. Fuck off before that gap closes."

"Sophie, don't be ridiculous. Just come back to school and try to sleep. You need the rest."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, DON'T BE RIDICULOUS? Am I not allowed to have fucking  _ feelings _ ? Can't you see that you're not the only one in this world that has  _ emotions _ ? In case you weren't aware, let me educate you; Minerva has emotions, and I have emotions too. Simply because you think I'm nice or a good person doesn't mean that I can't be fucking pissed off at something that you did to me. Now, go back to fucking school and tell Clementine to go fuck herself and that I don't wish to see you or her for a long time."

With that, Sophie rose to her feet and stomped off farther into the forest, leaving Louis with a baffled expression, sitting next to the small river. Without thinking, he too stood up and started tracing his path back to school. His mind empty, he traversed through the forest as he tried to get his brain to function again. He hadn't a clue how to tell Clementine or how he was supposed to process this himself. Before he even realized it, he'd made it back to the school and he found himself in front of Clementine's door. There was still light illumination coming from underneath the door, meaning that she was probably still up reading a book in bed. The brunette usually never read, only when she had to clear her mind. He hesitantly knocked on the door. 

"Louis?"

"Yeah, it's me," he answered as he opened the door and walked inside and sat down on the bed, "I've got some bad news."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	26. Chapter 26

_ Oh sure, George Bush Sr. pukes on someone and he gets a word in the Japanese language, I accidentally puke on Mitch’s boots and all I get is my booze taken away and my favorite shirt set on fire. Fucking double standards can eat a camel’s humpback cock every day of the week. _

Smirking at her own inner monologue, Clementine continued to sit and stare blankly at the board ahead of her. Usually Lee could make history exciting enough to keep the brunette captivated throughout the entire period, but ever since Sophie’s sudden change of mind, she couldn’t focus on much during the day anymore no matter how much she tried.

It’s been two days since Louis gave Sophie’s message to Clementine and the brunette with as much as she tried to see things from the other perspective, couldn’t bring herself to understand why Sophie reacted in such a manner. Yes, she understood that she may have stepped over the line a tad, but desperate times call for desperate measures and to the brunette, she felt it was justifiable. Yet no matter the time of day, Sophie refused to even look in her direction, let alone give her the time of day. Even with Louis’ attempts of intercepting the taller girl, he couldn’t even get a word in before the redhead pushed past him with a death glare that could stop even the blackest of hearts in its tracks.

Clementine jumps at the sound of a sharp tapping on her desk unsurprisingly finding a certain blonde and her dog standing mere inches from her desk waiting for her to realize that class had already ended.

“Seriously Clem? This is like the second day you’ve spaced out during Mr. Everett’s class. What’s going on with you?” Violet asks the brunette worrily. Rosie standing right beside her right leg and tilting her own head to the side as if she was waiting for answers of her own.

“What can I say, Vi? Maybe Lee’s losing his touch on keeping the dream of me being a history buff alive,” Clementine answers back nonchalantly, wincing ever so slightly at the sound of the older man clearing his throat from his desk. She turns her head towards the front of the room to see Lee peering over a stack of half graded papers in his hands with an eyebrow raised, his piercing eyes staring into Clementine’s challengingly.

“Or… maybe it’s about something else entirely,” the brunette responds, scratching her neck while standing up from her desk to a thumbs up from Lee in approval as his gaze turns downwards back to his task at hand. Hooking Violet’s arm into her own, the two girls quickly make their way out of the classroom and into the slightly crowded halls of Ericson’s as they made their way outside to their regular spot at the west end picnic table. Classes ended early for the students because some students believed it would be funny to light cherry bombs inside of the chemistry lab cabinets.

Needless to say, explosives and random chemicals aren’t exactly the most stable of combinations on the planet. No students or faculty were harmed, but the entire wing needed to be fumigated and cleared of the debris.

_ Most likely Mitch trying to get through his feelings through his boner for explosions rather than his hard on for soft spoken redheads. Yet another stupid argument that can easily be settled with a good dicking.  _

Both girls felt their own comfort next to each other, their newly blossoming relationship feeling more and more natural with every passing day. To Violet, the new relationship felt like a starting over for the two girls. She felt as though their friendship was tested and molded into a newly formed closeness and bond that was only reinforced by Clementine's protectiveness over her ever since their run in with Minerva. Even with everything going on in their lives, Clementine always put Violet as her number one priority above all else, always checking up on the blonde, making sure she was okay and eating properly and especially making sure that she wasn't getting harassed or got caught in any crossfire from any bullies or annoying students. Violet could only feel nothing but sorry for whoever was dumb enough to poke the bear and feel Clementine's wrath when it came to Violet's safety.

To Clementine, the relationship was a resurgence for her in a way. She swore off both girls and relationships ever since Minerva broke her spirit when she first arrived here. However, with Violet she felt both vulnerable and strong at the same time. She felt both slightly nervous and yet at ease whenever they were alone together. When around the others, she couldn't help but keep a protective watch over her new potential girlfriend whenever they were apart. She didn't want anything to happen to Violet while she was around and she was always vigilant to make damn sure that it never will happen.

Basking in the ever-growing sunlight of the courtyard, the two girls couldn't help but instinctively breathe in the aroma of the freshly cut grass that invaded their nostrils after their many hours in the stagnant air conditioning of the impressive structure. Traversing the steps carefully for Violet's sake, Clementine is surprised to see the courtyard empty, especially with school ending early. She had expected to see a plethora of teens running around, making out, hell maybe even finger-blasting each other under the shade of the nearby trees or something, but there was no one in sight.

"Huh, that's weird, where is everyone?" Clementine mumbled quietly to herself, not surprised in the slightest when Violet removed her head from Clementine's shoulder to respond to her rhetorical question.

"Maybe they're all in their dorms? With this being a half day and all I'm pretty sure most people would be taking a nap by now." Violet chimed in, a confused look painting her features at the situation as well.

Clementine gently lowered Violet onto the bench and sat next to her at their favorite picnic table before wrapping an arm around the blonde's shoulders protectively. "Maybe, but who cares? Just means there's more privacy for us to hang out together with my favorite Vi."

"Oh? Is there another Vi I should be aware of?" Violet asks the brunette in mock suspicion, causing Clementine to smirk at their banter.

"Well, come to think of it...." Clementine begins, getting a slap on the back of her capped head in response before continuing. "There's that thot from the Incredibles, but other than that, not really. Kidding, obviously. Nah, you're the only one for me, Vi. With you around, I don't want anyone else wrapped around my arm." 

Violet blushes at Clementine's comment, her light pink cheeks going a further shade of red as she plants her lips on the brunette's cheek a moment later. "Right answer." Her good mood however was quickly spoiled as another topic popped into her head once again. "Have you heard anything from Sophie yet?"

The brunette's smile slowly contorted into a straight line as she remembered her interactions with the redhead. Always getting pushed aside and given the cold shoulder without being able to get a word in. Clementine only acted so severely because Sophie was in shock, she wouldn't have listened to reason either way.

Shaking her head lightly, Clementine sighs lowly before answering. "Nope. Neither has Mitch, which is really fucking weird because those two were inseparable before that night. Hell they were playing tonsil hockey under the bleachers every practice for shit's sake."

"Do you think..." Violet says, her voice trailing off as her gaze drops to the ground at her feet. 

Clementine immediately opened her eyes at the blonde's tone and pulled her closer to her chest in a gentle embrace which Violet returned almost immediately. Both girls relished in the other's body heat and heart beat becoming one as they enjoyed their time alone from the rest of the world.

"Hey now," Clementine starts softly, playing with the blonde's straight hair absentmindedly as she spoke. "What were you going to say? You can tell me anything obviously."

"Well it's just.. I don't know, do you think you and Sophie will be okay? You two were the best of friends and now she's pushed away so far that it just doesn't seem like it can be fixed." Violet answers her potential girlfriend sadly, sniffling at the conflict that arose because of Minerva yet again. Yes, Violet understood that Minerva needed people to be there for her, but she couldn't begin to feel sorry for the girl yet, not after what she did to her and Clementine.

The brunette took her time to ponder Violet's saddened question as she continued to hold her. On one hand, she could walk up to Sophie and try to explain the situation rationally, but risk having the girl blow her off again. Although on the other hand, who knows if Sophie would even back down again. Minerva may be awful, manipulative, bitchy and downright nasty, but at the end of the day, Sophie is still her sister. Their bond is unlike any other friendship no matter the circumstances. 

“Honestly Vi Vi, I don’t have a fucking clue what to do,” Clementine admits, disheartened and aggravated at her own indecision. It was by no means a simple problem to fix, but for her to not have the solution mapped out in her head already was eating away at the brunette. If Violet wasn’t with her, she was sure to have broken something by now.

Sensing the brunette’s tension building, Violet swallows her slight fear and grabs onto Clementine’s calloused hand, gingerly grazing her thumb over the other girl’s knuckles as she spoke her next words with as much determination as she could muster in her act of extreme courage.

“It’s okay to not have all the answers sometimes, Clem.” Violet explains calmly, picking her head up from Clementine’s shoulder to meet where the amber-eyed girl’s voice projected from. “What’s important is that you do your best to find it, y’know? Maybe the solution here is something that you haven’t thought of yet? Like maybe Sophie isn’t wanting to talk for a reason?” Violet suggests sadly, a frown overtaking her features before her face scrunches up in focus. “Is someone else here?”

“Your friend may be on the right track actually.” A voice suddenly interjects from behind the two girls.

Violet lets out a yelp in surprise and grips onto the hem of Clementine’s t-shirt tightly as the brunette whips her head around and moves to an upright position, ready to face the mysterious voice and defend Violet at all costs. Her expression quickly changes from fury to confusion as she inspects the figure in front of her, unknowing of what to make of him.

The man now in front of the girls had long brown hair with a neatly trimmed full beard to accompany it. He looked to be in his early thirties and his brown eyes showed an aura of kindness as he stared back into Clementine’s amber ones with a small smile on his lips. Sweeping her eyes across his attire, Clementine is perplexed at what she sees.

_ Who the FUCK wears a trench coat anymore?? Let alone at this time of year?! Oh wait, Louis does...What the damn donkey dicks is wrong with people these days?! _

The man in front of her patiently waited as she assessed his attire. He was wearing a grey beanie on top of his head, a faded tan trenchcoat covering a plain olive t-shirt and a bandana around his neck. If that wasn’t the oddest part, he wore black leather gloves, combat boots and cargo pants. By the end of her initial inspection, Clementine had no idea of what to make of the man.

Seemingly sensing her distrust, the man slowly raised his hands in the air, palms out under her intense gaze. “I’m not a creep or anything, I’m just waiting on someone and couldn’t help but overhear your conversation. Your friend has a pretty keen set of ears though.” The man spoke in a light tone, gesturing towards Violet as she continued to hold onto Clementine’s shirt with her eyes pointed towards his voice. 

“Yeah, she’s got some bitchin’ hearing all right,” Clementine says cautiously, leaning her head lower to Violet’s so that she could whisper to her. “Why didn’t Rosie do anything about this guy?”

“Rosie must’ve smelled someone familiar on him. He said he was waiting for someone so maybe it’s another student?” Violet offers, reaching out to pet Rosie’s fur affectionately much to her support animal’s delight.

Turning her attention back to the man, Clementine folds her arms across her chest and arches an eyebrow at the older man, who only continued to patiently stare back at her. “All right then, if you’re not a creep, what the hell are you listening in on our conversation for? That’s not exactly normal for a guy to do...especially one that looks like a rejected wasteland hipster.” 

“Well, for one, it’s pretty empty out here and there’s barely any other sounds to tune into other than the occasional breeze which is few and far between.” The man explains calmly, lowering his hands back down to his sides as he returns to his relaxed posture once again. “And secondly, you’re having a tough dilemma by the sound of it. I thought that it wouldn’t hurt if I offered some free advice from an outsider’s point of view. If you wanted it, of course.”

Looking back and forth between the man and Violet, Clementine thought momentarily before she couldn’t help but agree with the man’s reasoning. Something about this man made him both easy to talk to, and yet so difficult to read. That kind of power could be worrisome in the wrong person.

_ Fuck it, what’s there left to lose at this point?  _

“Knock yourself out, I guess… whatever your name is?” 

“Thanks, the name is Paul by the way. But everyone calls me Jesus.” The man introduces himself with a small wave. The name struck a chord with Clementine but she couldn’t figure out why at this very second. She was more curious as to what he had to say about Sophie.

“Umh, sorry... but why’re you called ‘Jesus’? Is it some religious thing?” Violet asks curiously, her blindness becoming a deficit to her surroundings yet again against the obvious.

“Not quite...It’s more about the looks than the spirituality, but it’s understandable given that you can’t see what I look like, miss.” 

Violet and Clementine visibly recoil at the man’s blunt words before Jesus points towards his own lips with his gloved hand.

“She’s been looking towards my lips the entire time I’ve been here. Never once looking over my outfit or my hair like you did. Not to mention the obvious service dog and cane by her feet.” Jesus explains calmly, Clementine nodding along as he continued to speak, this time pointing to Clementine as his attention turned to her.

“Also, you just so happened to stand in front of your friend pretty quickly when I spoke up. Something like that tells me she means more to you than just a  _ friend _ …” Jesus trails off, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly at the girls’ stunned silence. “Anyways, back to the matter at hand. I wouldn’t recommend talking to your friend until they’re ready to talk to you.”

Clementine breaks her stunned silence at his last sentence, looking towards him questioningly as he continued his own thought process, staring up into the cloudless sky blissfully as his helpful words of advice effortlessly escaped his lips.

“A person who distanced themselves shouldn’t be approached before they’re ready, especially by the person who potentially hurt them. What needs to happen is that you should bide your time and wait until THEY approach YOU. Once their initial anger subsides and they realize just how irrationally they acted, they’ll be more willing to speak openly and honestly, no matter the situation.”

“And what exactly makes you an expert on this kind of thing?” Clementine asks more aggressively than necessary, hoping to break the stranger’s smug and carefree demeanor to no avail. He instead only lowered his gaze back onto Clementine and shrugged his shoulders lazily.

“I know I may not look it, but I’ve had my fair share of conflicts in my day. It’s how we deal with these issues that show just how strong we really are on the inside. In times like these, you have to decide if you’ll be the bigger person or succumb to your selfish needs and burn the bridge you’re trying to rebuild.” The older man says solemnly, his eyes reflecting a glint of inner pain that Clementine couldn’t help but wonder just how long he’s been carrying inside of him for. For such a calm and peaceful man, every conversation was like playing 4d chess upside down in pig latin for Clementine and Violet, who only sat in contemplative silence as her ears perk up to yet another set of footprints heading towards their location. Turning her head slightly, Violet focuses on the heavy steps growing closer and realizes the specific cadence could only mean it was one person, her suspicions being confirmed once she heard a familiar voice a moment later.

“Hey Paul! I’m really sorry for taking so long. Have you been waiting long?”

Three sets of eyes all turn towards Javier Garcia who was sporting his usual sports jersey and faded jeans combo with the added baseball cap to stave away the harmful sun rays that beat down on the school with no remorse. Clementine couldn’t help but still feel those excited butterflies in her stomach from seeing her idol at her school, that is until she finally realizes what the man had said in his greeting.

“Wait, Javi you know this mall Santa reject? Do you do community service on the weekends or something and he just happened to follow you here?” The brunette questions the scruffy ex-baseball player, who’s eyes widened in surprise at her description of the man in question.

“Hey there Clem, still quite the great judge of character, I see. Don’t you remember when we first met I told you about the man who saved me when my baseball career fell through?” Javi asks with a ghost of a smile forming on his face as he sees the wheels starting to turn in the teen’s head. “This is him. Clementine and Violet, allow me to formally introduce you to Paul Monroe, my boyfriend.”

_ Oh well that’s just lovely, they make a cute couple…...BOYFRIEND? WHAT THE SWEET BANJO SOLOING CUNT FUCKER? _

“Boyfriend?!” Violet and Clementine exclaim at the same time, much to the humor of Javi who laughs with a nod.

“That’s right! Your trusted and respected gym teacher and ex-baseball superstar has a thing for the trenchcoat wearing wanderer we all dream of when we’re alone in our beds at night. Only I get to see him when I wake up too.” Javier jokes, looking towards Jesus who only smiles back at him in return, repositioning himself closer to the joking man during his explanation.

Violet is the first to speak up after the bombshell Javi dropped on them mere moments ago. “I think it’s pretty cool in a way that you two met under such shitty situations. It kinda brought you closer so you could discover how great you are together.”

“That’s a great way to put it, Violet. I knew I made the right decision to make you my right hand woman. Excuse the sappiness for a moment, but I’m a firm believer that we all have someone out there for us, I just happened to find mine when I was spiraling out of control. He got my life back on track and I’m not sure what I’d do without him honestly.” The man says wistfully, returning Violet’s smile gleefully even though he was aware that she had no idea he was even doing so.

“Well, I’m sure  _ he’s _ very happy you’re with him too.” Jesus returns playfully with a nudge of his shoulder to Javier who only scratches his neck in response.

Clementine watched the two men with a great deal of interest. Her idol was standing right in front of her with the person who made him happier than ever and managed to turn his life around in a span of months. It was the perfect story for a cheap romantic comedy that would go straight to DVD yet sell well all the same.

_ It’s not as cute or as epic as Vi and me...but it’s still really fucking hot to think about. _

“What about you two? Any love in the air between you two lately?” Javier mentions offhandedly, pulling Clementine from her thoughts while hearing Violet let out a small squeal of her own next to her.

“Why would you think that?” Clementine attempts to cover up his accusations, but her dodging of the question only seemed to strengthen his attempts at getting his answers.

“Well...you two are  _ kinda _ the only ones out here, you’re awfully close, and let’s face it, I’ve been silently rooting for you both to get together ever since we met for the first time. All we’re waiting for is for ONE OF YOU to say it’s official so we can break out the banners and parade floats already!” The man admits excitedly, bouncing on his heels with every word much to Violet’s embarrassment, her face growing a deeper shade of red with each passing minute. Clementine however remains resolute and stands strong against her idol’s words, smirking at him in defiance in his attempts at teasing her.

“What makes you think I haven’t sent her to pound town already? I’ve always had a hobby in clam diving you know? Maybe I found my new permanent spot to get my  _ licks _ in.”

“Hey now, nothing is official until you say it is, Clem. Although Violet looks like she’s about to burst into flames from what you just said, so I have my doubts if you ask me.”

“Good thing no one asked you then, eh?” Clementine retorts.

“Touche! I’d love to stay and chat about this more, but Paul and I have to get going really soon.” Javier continues while glancing down at his watch. “My sister-in-law is coming over tonight and we need to set up for dinner.”

“That we do indeed Jav,” Jesus perks up with his signature smile. “Could you go get the car started? I need to have a small word with Clem here.” 

Grabbing the keys from Jesus’ gloved hand and planting a quick kiss on his fuzzy cheek, Javi gladly waves goodbye and heads out of the front gates towards the faculty parking lot. Taking the opportunity of their privacy once more, Jesus clears his throat lowly to garner the two girls’ attention once more.

“Look, I get that you both don’t know me and have no reason to trust my advice, but I’m just asking you to give it some thought.” He says quietly so only they could hear. “Patience is a virtue for a reason, so don’t go adding gasoline to an already burning bridge.  _ Wait for the embers to die out before trying to repair what is damaged. _ ”

And with those final words, the trenchcoat clad man spins on his heels and makes his way out of Ericson’s without looking back.

Silently wrapping her arm around the waist of Violet once more to pull her close, Clementine lets out a sigh of relief after that conversation. Her brain continued to wrack and question the man’s words as she decided her next move in this tricky situation.

“What’s the plan then, Clem? You’re pretty quiet...which is alarming.” Violet half jokes, giggling that sweet giggle that set Clementine’s heart spinning. squeezing her arm around the girl’s waist tighter, Clementine grunts in determination as she becomes resolute in her determination in her decision.

“Easy, I just have to ask myself ‘What would Jesus do?’”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	27. Chapter 27

"Woah… what's that song? I love that," Violet said, absolutely mesmerised by the notes Clementine was swiftly playing. 

"It's not a song," Clementine chuckled, "I'm improvising over a backing track I found online."

Violet gaped in amazement. "That's you  _ improvising?  _ Holy shit, dude. How do you make it sound so dark? I thought that only happened in, like, actual songs."

"Didn't you ever improv when you still played?" Clementine asked with a raised eyebrow. Not like Violet could see that or anything.

"I mean, I did but it always sounded generic and trash. Your playing actually has some sort of… ambience to it, I guess?"

"Well, I guess the reason it sounds so 'dark' is because I'm using the harmonic minor scale," Clementine explains. 

"...You're what?"

"Using the harmonic minor scale. You know, the scale that has a sharpened seven and has Phrygian dominant as its fifth mode and Superlocrian as its seventh mode? You know which I'm talking about, right?" Clementine explained as if it was the most logical thing in the world. 

Well, it is in some way. All you have to do is learn and remember it. 

"I'm sorry, what?"

Clementine sighed excessively. "Okay, I explain very easy, yes? I make seventh note in scale half step higher, so it sound very many sad, yes?"

"I'm not stupid Clementine, you don't have to go full-on Russian YouTube tutorial on me."

"You asked for it."

"I did not!"

"Whatever," Clementine grinned, unable to hide her amusement as she looked at the clearly agitated blonde in front of her. With the way the light came shining through the window onto her hair, the faint purple hue became more noticeable once again. Clementine decided to make a mental note to ask Violet if she would ever be interested in having it dyed again.

"Indeed, whatever. Now play something for me!"

"What do you want to hear?"

"Do you know any Slipknot? I always wanted to play that but my guitar couldn't handle the drop tunings."

"Fuck," Clementine muttered, "I had this guitar set up in drop B this morning but I changed it to drop C sharp because I wanted to play Lamb of God."

"I've heard you talk about it but I never actually gave them a good listen… You can play that if you want?"

Clementine immediately started beaming, as she was really glad that she'd be able to let Violet listen to her latest project. "I'd love to! This song is called 512 by Lamb of God."

Violet heard Clementine typing something on her laptop and after a few seconds a song came on. The song instantly started off dark and melancholic, much like the way Clementine's improvising sounded. The vibe of the song made Violet feel uneasy, like she'd been abandoned or if she'd lived in isolation for a long time. Feelings of dread and hatred immediately came forward in the song. 

Clementine flawlessly played along with the song, but that wasn't what Violet was focused on. While the screaming lyrics are hard to make out over Clementine's guitar playing, it was all she could focus on and she was able to make out the lyrics. And the lyrics reminded her of something. Of  _ herself  _ and her failures.

_ Six bars laid across the sky _ _   
_ _ Four empty walls to fill the time _ _   
_ _ One careless word, you lose your life _ _   
_ _ A grave new world awaits inside _

_ Lycanthropic survival instincts _ _   
_ _ Embrace the beast and shun the weak _ _   
_ _ Awake the primal one that sleeps inside _ _   
_ __ Or feel the shiver running through your spine

"Clem?" 

The brunette stopped playing and raised her head, connecting her eyes with those of Violet even if the blonde couldn't see that. "What?"

"What are these lyrics about? They're making me feel really fucking uneasy and I don't know why," Violet spoke shakily as she fidgeted with your fingers. 

"Is my playing that bad?" Clementine joked, to which Violet instantly shook her head, "I'm kidding. They're about the time the singer was in prison when he was falsely accused of murder. The lyrics mainly talk about how in order to survive, he had to become the worst and most intimidating version of himself in order to not get the shit beaten out of him during his time in prison."

"I don't like it. I love the instrumentals and all but the lyrics just freak me out. Can you maybe play something else?"

"I only just started playing in this tuning this morning, so I haven't really got any other songs I can play you," Clementine said sadly. 

"Oh, that's okay… we can just talk I suppose." 

"Sounds like a plan, Stan," Clementine joked as she hung her guitar back on the wall and turned off her amplifier. Usually she always forgets to do that but this time she remembered and she was damn proud of that. "So… Vi Vi. Are you excited for tonight?" 

"What's tonight?" Violet asked confusedly. 

Clementine scrunched her nose as she thought. "We're hanging out in Louis' room, remember?" 

"I don't think I was told that, but it's fine. I hope you all have fun."

"I specifically remember Louis saying all of us shoulder come, even-" Clementine paused for a second, "Oh…"

"What?"

"He put it in our group chat. You don't have a phone. Right. But you're invited, just so you know. I still need to shower and change clothing before then," Clementine spoke, "Just so you know." 

"I need to shower as well," Violet murmured. 

"Need any help with that?" Clementine questioned as she grinned mischievously. 

"Clem, I've been blind for God knows how long. I can do it myself," Violet chuckled. 

"That's not what I… whatever," the brunette grumbled, "So we need to get going, then? See you later, babygirl." 

Violet's skin instantly turned the brightest shade of red and she coughed violently as a result of choking on her spit. "Uh, yeah… See you later, Clem."

***

"So… when did you start playing piano, Clem? You're really good," Violet inquired, as it was her turn to ask a question. 

Clementine smirked mischievously, even though Violet wouldn't be able to see it. "Well, there's a bit more to it than 'I started back then', actually. When I was five years old, my parents could already tell that I was going to be a child that was somewhat different from the rest. Always picking small fights, yelling a lot more than is usual and I always had  _ way  _ too much energy. And we're not talking a little too much, we're talking  _ way too fucking much  _ energy _.  _ So, naturally they talked to some people about this, and one of the things on the list that they could go is give me a musical instrument to play. They gave me a drum kit, which kind of helped, but I didn't enjoy it as much. It got rid of my energy, but since I found it kind of dull I didn't end up playing that much and therefore it  _ didn't  _ get rid of my energy."

Clementine paused for a short while and looked at Violet, whose expression had remained neutral so far. She seemed to be really invested in Clementine's story though, it looked like she'd shut off the world around her. 

The musician cleared her throat and continued. "Anyway, so my parents were really happy with the progress I was making, right? Both from a musical perspective and, sometimes, my lack of energy. This happiness quickly faded as soon as they realized I was terrorizing the neighbors' four-year-old daughter with my drumsticks. Because drumming didn't satisfy my needs, I still needed to use my energy elsewhere. Since my parents had generously provided me with two new weapons, I decided to put them to use."

Violet let out a wholehearted laugh and brushed some of her blond strands from her face. She shook her head and continued grinning broadly. "Sounds like you were quite an interesting kid. Not in a bad way, of course." 

"You could say that, yeah," Clementine agreed, lightly chuckling herself. 

"She hasn't changed one bit though," Louis added to the conversation, receiving a full body eye roll from Clementine. 

"Yes, I have!" she said somewhat defiantly. 

"Clementine, just yesterday you yelled at a five-year old kid in the mall who took the last bar of Tim Tams from the shelf!"

"HE TOOK MY FUCKING TIM TAMS!"

"IT WAS A FUCKING KID!"

"SO AM I!"

Louis shrugged his shoulders and went back to snacking on his Teddy Grahams. Brody glared at the two and crossed her arms, her look softening once she realized the bickering had calmed down. She still didn't understand how Louis and Clementine could go from being at each other's throats to just having completely forgotten the argument happened two seconds later. 

Clementine took a sip from her beer and after having wiped the foam off her lips she continued talking. "So, right. Apparently terrorizing the neighbor's daughter wasn't really an acceptable method to vent your emotions. Who knew, am I right?" the brunette continued, earning a laugh from Violet. 

"Anyway, my parents took me to a bunch of therapists, which little me didn't give no shits about. I just wanted to play a different instrument. Long story short, they ended up selling my drum kit and got me my first electric piano. I was  _ instantly  _ hooked. I think during the first month I had that thing, I played at least four hours every day."

"Damn, that's a lot," Violet commented, her brows furrowing. "So, let me get this straight. You harassing your neighbor's daughter with drumsticks on a daily basis is what led to you discovering your favorite hobby?"

The brunette snickered. "Yup, but we're not done there. One day when I was around ten years old I think, we were at a birthday party from a cousin of ours, his name is Ben. He's a shy kid and he never really left his room during the party because he was socially awkward. So, me being a young kid that needed to release her energy, I went up to his room and just barged inside and he was playing this really heavy music. He instantly turned it off, because I guess he was ashamed that he liked heavy metal, or something? Anyway, I asked him to turn it back on because I really fucking liked it. He actually opened up to me once he noticed my enthusiasm and actually played his guitar for me as well. That's the moment that I discovered heavy metal and that I wanted to start playing guitar. Now I just needed to get my parents to buy me one, but how does one just do that? Well, me being the smart kid that I was, I had definitely noticed the connection between me molesting our neighbor's daughter and my parents giving me a piano."

Clementine paused for dramatic effect and looked around the room and everyone was still listening to her intently. She had never told anyone this story except for Louis, who still mindlessly nibbled on his Teddy Grahams. 

Clementine snorted at Louis' absent-mindedness and continued where she left off. "So, I started terrorizing her again. My parents were obviously confused as shit when I started doing this and one time I heard them talking about it. I went into the room and just said, 'If you buy me a guitar and an amplifier I promise to never do it again.' The evening after, a guitar and amplifier had arrived on our doorstep. I was really proud of myself."

"I bet," Violet said, shaking her head.

"No matter how often I hear this story, it's still just as good every damn time," Louis' muffled voice said, his face stuffed with small teddy bears. 

Brody stared at him in disgust. "Please swallow before you talk."

"I bet that's what Marlon tells you too," he retorted, grinning proudly. . 

"Me and Marlon have  _ not  _ had sex yet! How often do I have to tell you this?"

Clementine forcefully breathed out through her nose. "Yeah, right. That's story doesn't really add up with what you two were doing in the janitor's closet yesterday."

"...What the heckies! You… you didn't hear that, did you?" Brody said softly as she hid her face in her knees. 

Clementine grinned. "Didn't just hear it, I saw it too. I must say that the image of Marlon's dick is not one I'm getting out of my head anytime soon. It was quite horrying."

"Just… shut up, please," the auburn-haired girl mutters in response. "Why don't you tell Violet how you met Louis instead? I'm sure she'll enjoy that story as well if she liked the previous one so much."

The brunette shrugged in response. "Fine by me. Louis, do you wanna tell it?"

Louis looked up from his bag of Teddy's and looked like a deer caught in the headlights. His mouth is,  _ again _ , completely stuffed with the treats and he appeared to be struggling to swallow them. He took a minute to gulp down his snack and then cleared his throat. 

"Right! So, one day I was just playing the piano in the music room, showing off my incredibly awesome skills to everyone. Everything was going perfectly smoothly, until this new girl walked into the room. I noticed her immediately when she sat down on the front row, pushing over some other kid so she had more space to herself. She looked at me real judgingly for a few minutes and then stood up, which was weird. Usually my artistic brilliance drags people towards me, and not the completely opposite. Anyway, this girl walks up to me and tells me to, and I quote, 'Stand the hell up so I can show you how it's done.' I was so confused that I just obliged without really thinking about it, and she sat down and started playing. I know this might not really say much to any of you, but she started playing Chopin's Heroic Polonaise, which still remains one of her favorites to this day. Anyway, she didn't just play it, she  _ performed it fucking flawlessly.  _ I was so sure I met the love of my life that day."

Violet snorted audibly, Clementine doing the exact same. 

"You wish, boy," Clementine joked as she poked his side, taking another sip from her beer. 

"Ew, disgusting!" Louis shrieked, "Get away from me!"

"Excuse me!? I am fucking amazing!"

"But you're ugly!"

"I'M NOT UGLY! YOU'VE SEEN ME NAKED, YOU KNOW I'M NOT UGLY!"

"Actually, that moment was when I knew for sure."

"I'm sorry?" Violet interrupted, "Am I missing something here?"

"Oh, right. I'll fill you in," Louis said dryly and semi-annoyedly, "Clementine has this weird fucking thing where she just walks around houses naked. She was staying at mine and my entire family was out and I'm in the kitchen enjoying my breakfast, and this hoe walks in butt-naked and just makes herself some bacon and eggs and then goes back upstairs. All without saying a word to me, even when she looked me dead in the eyes. My Christian eyes needed cleansing, I was mortified!"

Clementine merely shrugged and drank the rest of her beer. "It's not even that bad. Louis takes two-hour long showers and the bathroom is next to the guest room. It wouldn't be bad, but he was singing along to Shakira and Lady Gaga the entire time. I've never wanted to pull a Kurt Cobain that much in my life."

"My fabulous singing is  _ not  _ worse than you walking around my house naked!"

"Yes it fucking is! Your singing sounds like fucking tires screeching!"

"YOUR ASS SOUNDS LIKE FUCKING TIRES SCREECHING!"

"AT LEAST YOU ONLY HAD TO WITNESS MY ASS FOR FIVE MINUTES!"

"They were the worst five minutes of my life!"

"LIAR!"

"I'M NOT A LIAR!"

"PLENTY OF PEOPLE WOULD PAY TO SEE MY ASS!"

"That's just not true!"

"Justin literally walked up to me and said he'd give me a hundred bucks for a picture of my ass!"

"...Did you do it?" Violet chimed in. 

"Of course I did!" Clementine said proudly, "A hundred bucks is a hundred bucks!"

"Why!? That's stupid and irresponsible!" Brody exclaimed, "He could've blackmailed you!"

"Oh, he did try that," Clementine snorted, "But the picture didn't have my face on it, so I just laughed at him and told him to leak the pictures. I mean, who are people gonna believe? That creep or me?" 

"I didn't see no Clementine butt pictures," Louis stated, "Would've been a ten outta ten wank if I did, though."

"That's because he didn't leak them. He knew it'd only make his non-existent reputation worse."

"You can live with the thought of Justin rubbing out moist towel stains to your butt?" Louis asked confusedly.

"Why would I not be able to? If he was gonna wank to the thought of me anyway, might as well provide a source so he can spend less time doing it."

"That's fair," Louis grinned as a response. 

After those last interactions, the room fell into a peaceful quiet for some time. The people who were able to check their cellphones did just that, and those who couldn't just kept still with their head on the shoulder of their potential girlfriend. Louis cleared his throat.

"I just wanna say that I think it sucks that Sophie isn't here. We really need to figure out what to do about that. I don't understand what her problem is, but that shouldn't stop us from trying to make things right."

Clementine shook her head, "Remember I told you about that Jesus guy? I think we should follow his advice. I was gonna talk to her, but he made me change my mind. It's better if we let her cool off and let her be in a better state of mind before we try anything. It's obvious that she's still upset, and by the time that she isn't upset anymore she'll be able to think normally again and when she can think normally again she'll approach us and instantly apologize. We've known Sophie for longer than today and we can all agree on the fact that this is exactly how it'll go."

"I think I'm gonna have to agree with Clementine on this one," Brody said, "We all know Sophie and we all know that as soon as she's got herself together, she'll come running in here like a boomer trying to get the last rolls of toilet paper."

"Oh my  _ God _ ," Louis groaned, "It makes me so horny when we're all acting as responsible adults."

"And you've ruined us acting like responsible adults. Good job, dreadhead," Clementine commented as she rolled her eyes playfully. 

"Good things don't last forever," Louis stated as he lifted his index finger into the air. 

"Bro, imagine having a fetish for flaccid dicks as a guy."

"What?" Violet asked confusedly.

"You'd look at your flaccid penis and then get turned on because it's your fetish, but then get turned off when your dick gets hard because it isn't flaccid, and then it'll be flaccid again and you'll get turned on again, and repeat. It'd never end. How could you ever rub one out like that?"

"Clementine, I do  _ not  _ wanna have this conversation right now," Brody sighed. 

"But I do!" Louis exclaimed, "You see, what if instead of a grower, you've got a shower. Then flaccid would practically be the same thing as erect. Would that impact your erections at all? Would you be turned on forever, or never?"

"I  _ think  _ these are questions we should be asking ourselves at 3am, not 8pm,' Violet sighed disappointedly. 

"Great suggestion! I shall set an alarm at 3am and wake you all up so we can have this discussion then!"

"CLEM, NO!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	28. Chapter 28

_ Tonight could not feel any more perfect... _

The duo of Clementine and Violet had just finished one of their deeper conversations of the night as the air around them began to thin out in the crisp moonlit night of spring. With Ericson’s being shut down for the foreseeable future, the two girls have spent nearly every night of the past two weeks together. Whether it was laying around in their rooms, walking the lonely school halls, or heading off on their own adventures into the vivacious forests encompassing the boarding school, whenever they weren’t with their group, you were sure to find Violet and Clementine snuck away for a peaceful evening alone.

Tonight, Clementine had decided that a nice stroll and picnic at night in the forest by the river felt like the perfect idea in mind for what she had planned. Everything about the area screamed  _ ambiance _ . From the slow current of the river at their feet, to the wind rustling through the various foliage and plant-life that sent chills up the blonde’s body, allowing Clementine to take the opportunity to wrap her arm around her slender shoulders and pull her close, letting the blind girl leisurely drop her head onto her shoulder contently. 

The sky was speckled with the seemingly endless array of stars in the sky, all glowing brightly above the teens’ heads. Though only one could see the actual image of the night sky, the blonde was brought back to her memories before the accident that she spent staring up at the stars late at night back at home.

Only now, she pictured her Clementine right next to her in these memories as well.

As the two girls sat on the shared fluffy blanket underneath them, they sat in a comfortable silence, Clementine merely staring off into the distance with Violet next to her, and the both of them basking in the warmth and joy of having the person they cared about most next to them without any Louis or Isa interrupting their serenity by having overly discriptive talks about cock and ball torture. All either girl cared about in this one moment was holding onto their partner tightly and enjoying the stillness of the forest while they still could for the night.

Clementine, usually vulgar and brash, felt calmer than ever before with this plan she came up with. From the moonlight reflecting off of the clear water’s surface, to the way the bright lights and wind mixed and played with Violet’s features. The brunette gave herself a mental pat on the back for coming up with this the day before and executing the plan flawlessly.

_ And Louis said to take her to the movies. Fuck that, my plan is the shit as always! Everything about this is perfect. _

Clementine’s expression turns to one of slight confusion as her thoughts veered off to a new topic. Everything about tonight felt damn near perfect to Clementine, so why did she feel like something was off?

Sparing a quick glance at the blonde next to her, a small smile broke out onto her face when she took in the sight of the girl on her shoulder. The way her breath was rhythmic and steady showed her complete trust in the brunette she was with. The way she gripped onto Clementine’s waist tightly both made the teen feel secure yet protective of her girl all the same.

_ Fuck man, I would literally do anything for my girl! _

Clementine’s thoughts halted suddenly.

_ “My” girl? I wonder if we’re at that stage yet. Granted, I’m not even sure where most stages lie in the first place. Not that I'd really care, everyone has to do stuff at their own pace and in their own way. Usually it just starts off as a friendly, “Hey there, ya fine piece of ass!” to straight fucking in a matter of hours to a day. Hell, does she even  _ want  _ a serious relationship with me of all people? Maybe she needs her eyes checked or something… Oh… nevermind. Fuck, I’m rambling again and I hate it. Why the hell am I even freaking out? I never freak out! Fuck it, I’m just gonna do it. What’s the worst that could happen? She says no? Press X to doubt that shit. She wouldn’t do that, hahaha… I think anyway. _

“Hey Clem?”

“What’s up, Vi?” Clementine asked, blinking her drying eyes multiple times to fully pull her out of her rambling thought process. Once the stinging in her eyes subsided, she tilted her head slowly to lay on top of Violet’s comfortingly as she awaits for her to continue.

Violet nuzzled her head deeper into the brunette’s shoulder, breathing out a peaceful sigh before speaking again. Her blonde strands twisting and bunching up at the friction of the contact, yet Violet remained uncaring due to the closeness of the action being all that she cared about.

“What are you thinking about?” Violet asked suddenly.

“Honestly, I’ve been thinking about a bunch of things recently, y’know?” Clementine began, keeping her confidence at her usual high even with the pit in her stomach only intensifying with every syllable that escaped her lips and entered the night air. Choosing to ignore the uneasy feeling, Clementine merely scoffed with a smirk before continuing her explanation to the waiting blonde.

“I guess it’s just a shit ton, y’know Vi? It’s hard to quantify infinity much like it’s hard to tell what every single thought in my head is like. For example, I’m thinking about how our fucking school got shut down for two weeks because of these circumstances that the world stuck us in. I mean really, why the hell are classes canceled but they’re still keeping us in the dorms? Don’t get me wrong though, I’m  _ insanely _ happy to practically be my girlfriend’s neighbor but it just seems so redundant,” Clementine rambled on, her nerves strangely tensing for a reason the girl herself had no idea of.

Violet however, felt her cheeks burn as she listened onto the brunette’s ramblings and found herself unable to form a sentence.

“Wha-?” Violet stuttered.

“Not only that,” Clementine continued, unknowingly cutting off the stunned blonde she’s supporting on her shoulder, “but the fact that Louis and James can practically grope each other in the courtyard while they’re in our eyesight is both pretty excessive and really fucking hot. It’s one of those Catch-22’s right? Like that one time Lou-”

“C-Clem?”

“No, I’m serious Vi Vi, he had tabasco sauce all over his chest and Mitch had to literally shovel th-”

“Clementine!” Violet raised her voice suddenly, snapping the brunette from her tirade and turned her head to the girl next to her. Violet’s face was noticeably a deep shade of crimson and her body was shaking slightly, both from the cold and her own feelings.

“Did you just say  _ girlfriend _ ?” Violet asked softly, her voice shaking ever so slightly in anticipation of her answer. 

Clementine remained quiet as she pondered the blonde’s question. Of course, she didn’t mean to say what she was thinking in her head, but it just happened to tumble out as she was rambling. Although as she stared at the ever increasingly nervous blonde by her side, she knew an answer was needed.

And it was now or never at this point.

“Oh well, of course I said that,” Clementine began with a small laugh, the bundle of nerves growing like a wildfire without a drop of water in sight, but still she continued on courageously, “Why wouldn’t I say that to you? I mean we’ve been doing a lot more than hand holding if you know what I mean, Purple. Clam-diving, The under the table handshake, the wet kit-”

“C-Clem…” Violet began once again, her whole body wracked with nerves in this moment. “A-Are you asking me t-to be your girlfriend?” She asked, her nerves at an all time high and her face, without a doubt being a deeper shade of red than before. Her invalid eyes staring in the direction of the brunette’s voice, unwavering and unblinking in both fear and anticipation. 

Clementine released her unintentionally held breath in a low capacity. She was afraid of having to speak her true feelings mostly because she was nervous of sounding like a dumbass to the girl she cared about and loved the most. However, every second that Clementine refused to answer was another second of dread that creased across the blonde’s features. Her emerald green eyes dulling as disappointment and rejection began to spill into them. Violet’s breathing became shorter and more sporadic as the anxiety continued to well up in her body. The very sight was enough for Clementine’s heart to break into a million pieces and spread into the wind. Straightening her back and steeling her nerves, Clementine cleared her throat and turned her full body towards the other girl.

“Violet, from the single millisecond that we decided to start dating, I immediately felt different. Not in the ‘Irritable Bowel Syndrome’ kind of way that Marlon used to get all the time, but in the way that I knew something inside of me was changing,” Clementine said confidently, her honey gold eyes never wavering from the blonde’s half-lidded ones. Trying not to lose her nerve and get lost in the other teen’s eyes, she continued valiantly.

“I thought that Minerva had ruined any chance of me ever believing in love again. I found myself having flings and sex with anyone I thought was packing or just bored enough and I thought that it was good enough for me. And for a while it  _ was _ good enough… until it wasn’t. Until I heard that you were with the Wicked Tramp of the South, Minerva herself, I knew I couldn’t let you get taken advantage of like I was and…” Clementine let out a shallow breath and averted her gaze, tears stinging the corners of her eyes,“ and I almost fucking failed again.”

Sensing the brunette’s hesitation to continue, Violet clasped Clementine’s calloused hands in her own and gently squeezed, a watery smile etching her own lips as she silently pushed the girl to continue. After a moment to collect herself, Clementine continued with a shaky inflection.

“I almost lost you to someone who only wanted to use you. I almost l-lost you to a person who had no idea of how much of an amazing person you are and only grabbed onto you to manipulate you. She tried so hard to tear you away from me and I thank whatever the hell people believe in up above that we got to you that day and… ever since that day I swore to myself that I’d protect you and wouldn’t l-let anyone take you away from me again. That’s why… that’s why…”

_ Say it already. _

“That’s why…?” Violet asked softly.

_ Don’t lose your nerve. Say it! _

Clementine blinked away her tears and brought her gaze back to Violet, the blonde holding that sparkling smile that seemed to radiate even brighter off of the moonlit sky. With one final breath, Clementine decided to jump into the void, but not after staying silent for a mere few seconds longer. 

“That’s why I wanted to… ask you if you wanted to be my… girlfriend. Maybe, kind of, y'know?” Clementine asked, her hands still held firmly in Violet’s own as the blonde’s smile only intensified while she nodded.

“I would love to be your girlfriend, Clem,” Violet said sweetly before feeling a pair of lips on her own in a meaningful kiss full of all of the words left unsaid in their confession. Clementine and Violet pulled away slightly as they fell back onto their picnic blanket, bodies intertwined and souls connected as one as both felt content in this very moment. As the night’s breeze swept across their bodies and their smiles never wavered from their positions, both girls relished in the feeling of their now official girlfriend by their side and they were determined to take on the world one day at a time.

_ Together. _

*******

"What the hell do you mean, we have to go home?" Clementine asked confusedly as Mr. Everett stood before her, tall. The pupils had just received some shocking information and Clementine's first reaction had been to get up from her seat and yell. Which wasn't exactly a rare occurrence. 

"Language, Clementine," Lee said sternly as he stood upon the small podium in the school's recently upgraded music room, "The circumstances are growing to be much worse than we'd anticipated. JUSTIN! We told everyone  _ specifically  _ to keep 6 feet distance, and last time I checked you were a part of everyone. Anyway, we  _ have  _ to close the school to maintain the safety of both all of you and also our faculty. This isn't up for debate. You've all got a week to pack and arrange methods of travel and then the school grounds will be closed until everything calms down. If no methods of travel can be arranged for you within a week, please contact faculty."

"It's just a flu," Justin mumbled. 

"That ' just a flu' of yours is a previously unknown virus that's currently spreading through the world like a wildfire and if action is not taken it'll infect so many people that hospitals across the entire world be flooded with people they simply cannot take care of. We have sent all of your parents and/or guardians letters pressing our concerns and safety measures."

"But we aren't at risk! We're super far away from any city and we haven't been allowed to leave the school grounds since Sunday. It's Thursday now so if we all just quarantine within the school it should be fine, right?" Erin asked. 

"That's a good point, Erin," Lee complimented, "And it would be true too, if a large part of our students would actually pay attention to that rule, anyway. We're fully aware, against what the people in question think, that people sneak out of the school after classes every day and we simply cannot take the risk. From now on, visits to other people's dorms are forbidden and classes are dismissed. Obviously, you're allowed to video call and such, but we absolutely want  _ no  _ more contact with others than is absolutely necessary. That is all I have to tell you for now, our faculty will be working hard on answering any questions you have and also on a way to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible. You may now return to your dorms, and remember to keep a distance of 6 feet from each other. Be safe, all."

A few rumbles of annoyance can be heard as the students left the room one by one, some paying a lot more mind to the 6 feet rule than others. Violet didn't really know what to make of all of this. She just confusedly sat in her seat as the room around her became more and more lively. Obviously she understood the risks of the virus very well and knew she should abide by all the rules, but she wondered how it would be for someone who can't see. Keeping a distance of 6 feet is kind of difficult for someone who can only really tell where people are if it's dead quiet and when she's really focused on trying to find out where others are. Not to mention having that hyperfocus is really tiring. 

"Stay there, Vi Vi! I'll be right back," Clementine said to the blonde who just weakly nodded, as she hadn't really planned on doing anything else than that until she got further instructions from someone who could lead her around the room while keeping safe distance. She heard Louis yell something vague at Clementine about him texting her later to figure some stuff out, which she merely mentally shrugged at. Sometimes it's best to instead of always wanting to understand things before coming to terms with them, is just accepting them as they are. 

"Hi, baby," Clementine whispered in Violet's ear as she intertwined her arms with the blonde. 

The blonde instantly flushed deep red and coughed roughly. "Clem!" she sputtered, "Uh… 6 feet!"

"It's fine. Let's go to my room, shall we?"

Violet was still way too dazzled by the sudden nickname Clementine had given her and simply allowed herself to be dragged upwards onto her feet. They carefully started traversing to the room, Clementine protectically pulling her from left to right whenever she even thought someone might come close to her girlfriend. 

"MR. EVERETT! Clementine and Violet aren't keeping 6 feet of distance!" Justin screamed towards the podium. 

Mr. Everett sighed disappointedly. "Justin, I realize you're not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but you realize Violet is blind, right? Clementine just came to me to ask if she was allowed to be close to Violet in order to help her as she usually does. Considering Violet's situation, I obviously said yes. Now, instead of worrying about what others are doing, I'd suggest you pay more attention to yourself, because as far as I am concerned everyone will gain more from that than anything else."

"Whatever," Justin mumbled, presumably exhausted by the fact that every time he said something, someone always had to make him look stupid. Which honestly isn't that difficult. In the meanwhile, the entire music room had flooded empty and the only people remaining left inside were Clementine, Violet and Louis. 

"It's fine if I stay with you, right?" Clementine asked Louis as they also started to move towards the exit, "I don't feel like flying all the way to Oregon simply because school closed down."

"Yeah, that's fine. Just make sure to tell your parents that and don't forget like you did last time. I remember you getting angry calls from Mr. Everett and I don't think I've ever seen you as scared as you were then."

Violet shook her head confusedly, "Why wouldn't your parents just call you to ask where you are?" she questioned. 

"Oh, they did!" Louis said passive-aggressively, "But yours truly was too busy playing fucking Clash of Clans on her iPad and didn't feel like being interrupted."

"So why didn't you answer my phone for me?" Clementine shot back, " _ Oh, right _ . Because you were busy playing fucking Fortnite with that one girl you had a crush on and you thought playing her games with her would make her like you!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! Your fucking phone, your responsibility!"

"CLASH OF CLANS IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN MY WORRIED TO DEATH PARENTS!"

"And why wouldn't Fortnite be, huh?!"

"BECAUSE IT'S FOR VIRGINS!" Clementine argued harshly, "That game is filled with twelve-year-old virgins and the few times I  _ was  _ forced to play they all asked if I wanted to sixty nine or wanted to fuck, just because I'm a girl. Like, bitch. Your prepubescent penis is smaller than my fucking pinky finger."

"I personally feel like everyone should just play the games they enjoy," Violet added dreamily.

"Clementine, for the record," Louis started, "I lost my virginity  _ after  _ I started playing Fortnite while you lost yours when you were like fourteen because you were a slut. If that doesn't prove that Fortnite isn't for virgins then I don't know what will."

"It was the day before I turned fifteen, so I was practically fifteen!" Clementine argued, "And  _ for the record _ , I just wanted to know if his dick was as big as people said on the streets, and know I am able to say that it's even bigger. It was like the size of my forearm."

"That says nothing because you're fucking teeny," Louis grinned, "My pinky finger is the size of your forearm and my balls are the size of your ego."

"Then how the hell do you keep your legs closed!?"

"Well, that also means they only come out when they're needed."

"GOODNIGHT, LOUIS!" Clementine yelled as she pulled Violet into her room with her.

"GOODNIGHT!"

"Clem, what are you doing?" Violet asked, "This isn't my room, the door sounded different."

"I know, you're staying with me."

"Clem, we can't do th-"

Their light-hearted bickering was interrupted with the sound of Clementine's phone vibrating. The brunette sighed deeply and fished it out of her pocket and checked her notification screen. Her eyes widened when she saw who was calling her. 

"Who is it?" Violet asked. 

Clementine ignored her question, "Well, this is gonna be interesting."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	29. Chapter 29

"Who is it?" Violet asked inquisitively. 

Clementine ignored her question partially, "Well, this is gonna be interesting."

The brunette moved her finger across her phone's screen, answering the video call. She sat down on the bed, dragging Violet down with her and forcing the blonde onto her lap, like she usually does. At this point, Violet had gotten used to being dragged around and being used as a portable, oversized teddy bear, and she'd be lying if she said she didn't love every single second of it. 

"Well, well, well. If it isn't my favourite lighthouse," Clementine grinned as she looked into her phone's camera, "I was wondering when you'd come back to your senses, and must say it took longer than I expected." She had to angle her head awkwardly to see her phone over Violet's shoulder, because the blonde was quite a bit taller than her, and well, she'd dragged this particular blonde down onto her lap. 

"Clementine, thank God you answered! Man, I don't even know where to start. Are you okay? How are you doing? Are you fine? Man, I feel so stupid. Is that Violet with you? Where are you right now?"

"Woah! Relax, kitten," Clementine laughed, "Let's take this one by one. Yes, I am with Violet and we're fine and we're in my room."

"Oh man, I feel so fucking stupid. I'm so sorry, I was being so immature, I don't even know what got into me, especially for keeping it up this long. I'm just sorry, it was really stupid and I promise I won't do it again and I hope you still love me."

"Sophie, you're being a fucking dumbass. This isn't some  cliché fucking movie where I hate you because I did one stupid thing. You're kinda like eating ass, you kinda wanna hate it but at the same time it's just really good and you can't really live without it."

"...What? Did you just compare me to eating ass?"

"Yeah."

"...Okay, then. I don't really know what else I expected. Anyway, how are you? This weird Toblerone, or whatever it's called, virus situation made me realize how much of a dumbass I was and I finally decided I wanna make it up with you and everyone else but it's not like I'm really allowed to go see you right now. I hope doing it this way is good enough for you," Sophie rambled without taking a single pause to breathe. Her head was almost as bright red as her hair and from the bags under her eyes it was clear that she hadn't slept well in the last few days at all. Also, her eyes were a little swollen, making it obvious to Clementine that she had probably cried before making this call. 

"Of course it's good enough, dumbass," Clementine responded laughingly, "We've missed your cute, boney ass in our group. I mean, I didn't miss the part where you were acting as an unreasonable bitch and the part where you didn't apologize for weeks, but I guess that's just a part of your personality. I'm sorry you had to suffer the wrath of someone who knew what was best to do in a tricky situation. Well actually, I'm not sorry for what I did, but if I don't apologize I'm gonna look like an asshole, so here you go."

"I'm still pissed that you had to pull my hair, not going to lie about that," Sophie rumbled, "It hurt so much, I actually felt a tingling sensation on my head for days and you strained a muscle in my neck, which still hurts know if I bend my head at a weird enough angle."

"Then don't bend it at that angle, numbskull."

"I can do whatever I want!" Sophie huffed defiantly, "Besides that, it's your fault! Uh… anyway, how is everyone? I haven't spoken to them in a while. Again, which is kind of my own fault, but you know."

"I'll add them to the call, give me a second," Clementine said, nodding absent-mindedly as she opened her contacts. In the meanwhile, Violet had just been vibing on Clementine's lap and dreaming away in her own small imaginative world. It did not take long before some more people joined the call. 

"Louis, put your damn dick away!"

"Bro, it's not my fault she called us when I was balls deep in you!"

"I told you I was gonna answer the call!"

"Aye, why'd you call me at this hour? I was busy finger blasting myself to my George Washington cardboard cutout and I was  _ so  _ close to busting one! That man is so super hot."

"As you can see, they haven't changed much," Clementine grinned widely, her energy levels already rising because of the increased activity and stimuli. It took some time for everyone in the call to quiet down and get to their senses after they received the unexpected online presence, but eventually everyone calmed down and they realized that Sophie was in fact also among them. 

"Aye, Sophie!" Isa yelled, "I dunno if you and Mitch are gonna get back together, but if you two don't, how about you come by my room and we can take turns eating each other out? It's been a while since I've had sex with a hot, lanky redhead and I could use some!"

Sophie's ears immediately went red and she hid her cheeks behind the sleeves of her baggy hoodie, "Mitch and I will be fine, thank you," Sophie murmured shyly, "We already spoke yesterday and I'm pretty sure everything will be okay."

"Then why don't we just host an orgy? Would anyone be against that?" Clementine asked hopefully, "I mean, of course we wouldn't invite Louis because he'd just get the average dick size of our group lower. Like, I don't even have a dick but my clit is still longer than his penis. But everyone else could come!"

"Hell yeah!" Isa yelled, "I'm in!"

"I… I'm fine, thank you," Violet muttered. 

"Baby… Imagine how fun it would be…" Clementine cooed into her girlfriend's ear.

"WAIT, IS THAT SOPHIE?" Louis screamed suddenly, "We missed your ass, dude! Glad you're back. Don't worry, I gave Clementine a beating for how she treated you as well. Like, in the sense that I tried shoving the golden dildo she once gave me up her ass, but she wouldn't let me, which was kind of surprising to be honest."

"Louis, I wouldn't even piss on you if you were on fire, let alone let you shove a dildo up my ass."

"How would he have the opportunity to do that, anyway?" Sophie questioned. 

"We were taking a shower together," Clementine replied simply. 

"What?" Violet asked confusedly. 

"Taking a shower with the boys is normal! Like, I might be a girl but I'm still part of  _ the  _ boys, you know? We were having a sleepover and we still had to shower so we showered together, nothing weird, nothing sexual."

"Nothing weird and sexual? Then why would he bring a dildo? And try to shove it up your butt?" Violet inquired sternly. 

"Not  _ just _ a dildo, a golden one, thank you."

"The color doesn't matter to me!"

"It's an extraordinarily important detail! Anyway, we were planning on rolling it underneath the shower curtain of someone else taking a shower but there was no one there."

Violet shook her head, clearly unconvinced, "So instead, he tried to shove it up your ass to punish you for not being nice to Sophie?"

"...Yeah?"

A small pause ensued. 

"...Okay."

"I really worry about you guys sometime," Sophie sighed, "Like, I thought some of the shit I saw you all do was weird, but I kinda left for a few weeks and you're all trying to shove dildos up each other's asses."

"Not  _ just _ a dildo, a golden one! And it's not like we wouldn't have done it if you were there," Clementine corrected her. 

"Yeah, yeah, fine. A golden one," Sophie said as she rolled her eyes. 

"Next time, please invite me," Isa said out of nowhere, "I've got a silver butt plug that can be a pretty nice match to your golden dildo. It's got a nice blue jewel in it, too. No idea what kinda jewel though, maybe an emerald? Oh no, wait. Those are green. Ah, whatever dude. It's blue and it twinkles and it's pretty."

"OH MY GOD! That's awesome," Clementine said, "Do you reckon I could borrow it?"

"I mean, you'd have to clean it first. It's kinda poopy right now."

"That's fine," Clementine said gratefully, "I'll come by to pick it up later."

"How are Clementine and Violet even compatible sexually?" Sophie wondered out loud, "You got Clementine out here signaling planes where to land using brightly coloured dildos and then there's Violet that had probably never even  _ thought  _ about having sex with someone before she met Clementine."

Instantly, Violet went bright red and looked away from the source of Sophie's voice, which Clementine laughed at loudly. "Sophie, some people have got some stuff to them you might not expect."

"Clem, please," Violet murmured.

"Yours truly Violet over here  _ loves  _ being handcuffed to the bed. I'd be lying if I said I didn't let her try anything she wanted." Clementine grinned, "Cutie lil' Vi Vi likes bondage! Who'd have thought!"

"Jesus, well okay then," Louis grinned, "Guess her re-upbringing can now be considered complete. We have corrupted her!"

"Wait, someone is at my door," Sophie said as she got up from her bed, leaving her phone on her pillow. Falling into a short moment of quiet, Clementine and Violet patiently waited for her to return. "Mitch? What are you doing here? Did you not hear what Mr. Everett said just now?"

"I'm just gonna stay here! We'd both be better off that way, keep each other company and all."

"I don't think Minerva would appreciate that…" Sophie sighed, "Don't get me wrong, I want you to stay here, but I don't know if it's really a responsible decision…"

"Guess I'll just leave, then."

"NO! Stay," the redhead muttered, "Whatever. We'll figure out what to do. I'd indeed kinda like the company..."

"So have you all have make up sex yet?!" Clementine yelled from her end of the phone, "I've heard that it can be some of the most emotionally intense sex there is! Probably super hot, too."

Mitch grinned widely. "Nope, we haven't. But thanks for the idea! If you don't mind I'll hang up now so I can go plough my dough back into shape. Bye!"

Almost immediately a small sound played and Sophie and Mitch disappeared from Clementine's phone screen. After that, the other people disconnected as well to enjoy the rest of their night, each in another way. The brunette threw her phone onto her nightstand and lifted Violet up from her lap and sat her down on her bed. She then walked towards her wall of guitars and grabbed one that had recently become her favourite; a Vigier Excalibur Custom. Over the last month, she had saved up a bunch from the money she'd made off small gigs and got this insane upgrade. 

The guitar could be used for practically anything; Clementine herself had been completely blown away by the diversity of this guitar. She could play the hardest of metal and shred away, but also play the more mellow stuff and have it sound absolutely excellent. Not to mention the extreme comfort it offered while playing. Since Clementine had been on an absolute  _ Lamb of God  _ roll lately, the guitar was tuned to drop D and she was about to continue with her latest project. 

"What are you gonna play?" Violet asked curiously, "You know I love hearing you play," she added with a shy smile. 

"Oh, do you now?" Clementine asked with a mischievous smirk, "Does it make you  _ wet _ ?"

"C-Clem!" Violet sputtered, "N-No… Of course, not…"

"Mhm, right. I know better," Clementine laughed, "Anyway, not too long ago Lamb of God released a new single called  _ Memento Mori  _ and it's an absolute vibe. I've been trying to figure it out and I think I'm quite a long way there."

"You're telling me Lamb of God released a new song and you didn't tell me?!" Violet said defiantly. 

"I thought you didn't like them!" Clementine argued as she switched on her laptop, "If I knew you liked them I'd have told you."

"I… I didn't like them at first…" Violet spoke shyly, "But because you love them so much I decided to give them a second chance and I listened to almost all of their songs and they grew on me. They remind me of you… Harsh and brutal, but also subtle and soft when they wanna be…"

"Oh, I am  _ NOT  _ soft," Clementine said sternly, "You can call me anything you want, but I am  _ not  _ soft. I am totally badass and  _ not  _ soft at all."

"Yeah, right," Violet snorted timidly, "I've known you for some time now… I know better."

"You better quit it!" Clementine laughed, "I am super tough. The only softie here is you."

"Okay, I give up!" Violet laughed softly, "Just play, dummie."

"Okay, okay. Fine."

***

"Okay, quarantine is driving me insane," Clementine mumbled as she threw the sheets off her. The first morning light had just made its way into her room and had woken her up, "I'm gonna go for a jog. I  _ have  _ to go outside. It's like 6am anyway, I won't run into anyone."

"Clem, you can't. If you do that, you're a part of the problem," Violet said, even though she was still half asleep. It wasn't strange for Clementine to wake her up early, since she's an early bird. However, during quarantine being an early bird can prove to be quite difficult. 

"It's one jog at 6am! I won't encounter anyone and I'll even keep 30 feet distance from everyone I see. I promise! I've been locked inside this room for two days and I'm already going insane. Besides, I feel like I'm getting fat so I have to work out."

"Clementine, if I lay my hand on your stomach your abs are as hard as bricks, which is… kinda super hot," Violet said as she turned red, "You're not getting fat, my love."

Clementine hid a small blush behind her palms, mentally scolding herself for blushing in the first place.  _ My tough outer exterior is falling, can't have that happen. Nope.  _

"I'm going for a jog, I don't really care at this point."

"Whatever, but if you come back coughing, don't think I'm gonna stay in your room anymore."

"We both know that's a lie!" Clementine whisper-yelled over her shoulder as she opened her room's door and ran outside. Violet let out a huge sigh. She knew this moment was bound to happen and it actually happened later than she thought she did. But, what bothered her most was that this quarantine would most likely last a few more months if not an entire year and some regulations might even become more strict than they already are. 

Since it was this early in the morning, Violet decided to go back to sleep and simply wait for Clementine to come back. The blonde knew there was no risk, as she was aware that even though her girlfriend could be very ruthless at times, she was also sure that Clementine  _ always _ knows what she is doing. The brunette wouldn't have gone out if she had thought there was any threat for her or others. Slowly, Violet started to fall asleep once again, this time to the soft singing of the birds that had just started to sing outside. 

***

"Ah, there you are. Fuckin' hell, making me do all of this work just because you can't stay in your own damn dorm room. I swear they're way too soft on kids these days, all they do is break fucking rules."

Violet confusedly raised her head off her pillow, trying to make sense of what was going on around her. 

"Well, what the fuck are you waiting for? GET UP!"

Before the blonde could even react, she was dragged up by her shoulders and got pushed outside of Clementine's room. She was lucky she got could during the night and put on some sleepwear, or else she'd have been standing in the hallways butt-naked right now. 

"Your mom grabbed your shit from your room. She's already in the car, now move your ass. I didn't wanna drive here in the first place but your school made me so don't make this difficult on me. MOVE!"

"What the hell are you doing here, dad?" Violet confusedly said. 

"I'm here to fucking pick you up because your school told me so. Fucking bullshit."

"Violet? Who's that man? Where's he taking you?" Louis yelled from across the hallway. He was still pulling his pants up, meaning he had probably been on the toilet when he heard the rummaging in the corridors. 

"It's my dad," Violet said, still extremely disoriented and confused, "I guess he's here to pick me up and take me home."

"What? Does Clementine know?"

"Uh… no, she doesn't. Oh, shit!" Violet yelled as she tried to pry herself loose from her father's grip, "I wanna say goodbye to her! Dad, please!"

"I don't know who this Clemencock girl is, and I don't care. She's probably not important enough to be wasting my time. Move your underfed ass,  _ now _ ."

"Mister, I don't think it's fair tha-"

"I don't remember asking you anything, boy. I don't need to get backtalked by people from  _ your  _ kind, anyway. Now, piss off. I wanna leave here as fast as possible."

Violet's dad pushed Louis to the side harshly and dragged the struggling blonde towards his car, ignoring all of her cries for him to stop. Louis just powerlessly stood in the gates of the school, watching as one of his best friends was forced away from him. He sighed deeply and scratched the top of his head frustradly. 

"What the actual fuck, dude." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


	30. Chapter 30

"I still can't believe Violet left without telling me goodbye… I understand it might have to do with transportation, but I don't see why that would've mattered! I wouldn't have let her leave, anyway!" Clementine complained, throwing her hands up in the air. 

"Well, her dad is just an assho—"

"And now she's home with her family that she never spoke a single word about. They've practically taken  _ my  _ girl hostage.  _ My  _ girl! You know what that means? That means that she's  **_mine_ ** , and not anyone else's!"

"Clem, I think you should r—"

"What if something happens to her, huh? What am I supposed to do? Just cluelessly wait around and  _ hope  _ that she even shows up when school starts up again? Fuck that, I need my baby girl!"

" _ That  _ was adorable. Anyway, as I was saying, we cou—"

"I want to pick her up from her home… I don't want to miss her," Clementine breathed out, inhaling sharply and stifling a sob. "Louis, please…" 

Louis stared at Clementine wide-eyed, his mouth hanging slightly open in awe. "Dude, are you okay?" The boy turned around and looked at Sophie, who was sitting behind them in the vehicle, "Is she on her period or some shit?" he asked, nodding his head towards the musician, "I don't think I've ever seen her like this."

Sophie shrugged. "Could be, don't really care," she said, "Too busy enjoying this bagel to even wanna think about her relationship anxiety. Plus, that was a really insensitive question to ask." She took another bite of her snack, humming in bliss as she did. 

Louis rolled his eyes. "Whatever." Silence lingered it in the air for a few seconds as he took a left turn. "Do you ever stop eating?" the boy added, shaking his head, "I don't know what it is with you, but ever since like, three days ago, you've been eating non-stop."

"That's what you do when you're pregnant."

Louis stared at her much like he'd stared at Clementine before. "Bitch, what?"

"I'm joking, Jesus. I'm just hungry. Leave me alone," she huffed, grabbing another bagel as she'd finished the other one already. 

Louis decided to ignore Sophie's overly loud munching on bagels and focused on the road again, looking at his sat nav for the directions. It's not like he really needs the sat nav to get home, but it helps him not have to worry about if he is indeed going the right way. Also, it shows when you're due to arrive, which would be in around thirty minutes. He looked to his right, and saw that Clementine had hidden herself inside of her hoodie, presumably to hide her tears.  _ This is weird. I've never seen Clementine break down like this,  _ he thought, focusing back on the road. 

"Clem, don't you have that app on your phone so you can see where she is at all times? You know, because you're a paranoid piece of shit?" Louis asked, jabbing his elbow into her side, which resulted in her jumping slightly. A muffled 'fuck you' came from underneath the hoodie, and Louis suppressed a laugh. "You know, because if you do, we could always just go to her house and ask her parents if it's okay for us to take her to my place," he added nonchalantly. 

"Yes! I need my baby girl!" Clementine yelled enthusiastically, immediately wiping away any tears left on her cheeks after she came out of hiding and grabbed her phone and opening an app called Life360. "It's only an hour away from here!" the brunette squealed happily. 

"Put it in the nav," Louis said, a satisfied smile on his face, "Let's go get your girl."

"Why do you even have that app?" Sophie asked with a mouthful of Takis. Apparently, she had Takis too. "It's not like Violet's gonna have a side hoe."

"That's not what I'm worried about!" Clementine defended, her cheeks reddening over so slightly, "With her blindness you'll never know if she gets lost and wanders somewhere weird."

"Mhm, right," Sophie grinned, "Sounds like a bunch a' baloney to me, but okay."

"Fuck y—"

"Clementine, don't even try denying it," Louis interrupted, "We both know that you're super protective over her, and that's fine! You're doing it out of love, not because you don't trust her, and that's both okay  _ and  _ cute."

"...I'm not cute," the brunette grumbled, muttering a few more swears and hid in her hoodie again, zipping it all the way shut to the top of the hood and then leaned against the door, her head faced towards the passenger side window. Louis grinned at his best friend and that ridiculous hoodie. After Clementine came across a video of Billie Eilish getting her hair stuck in one of those hoodies, she'd immediately wanted one herself. And voila, now she does. It didn't take long for the musician to start snoring softly.

"Louis?" Sophie asked when she noticed Clementine had dozed off, putting her Takis on the seat next to her, "I've been thinking, and, you know, Mitch and I have been having sex regularly for quite a lot of time now and I kinda wanna spice things up, you know? What's like, something you can suggest to a guy that isn't immediately seen as weird? I'd ask Clem, but she'd drag me into a sex shop and start showcasing a bunch of differently sized and shaped strap-ons to me, and that's like, the  _ last  _ thing I want."

"Uh…" Louis said after a few seconds, "Why are you asking me?"

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Because you're a dude, duh?"

"Just because I have a male sex organ doesn't mean I can sense what kind of shit Mitch is into," Louis said, "You're better off asking Mitch himself."

"Dude, that's super awkward…" Sophie groaned, hiding her flaring cheeks in her hand palms, "Who does that?"

"I'll ask him for you!" Clementine said from inside her hoodie. Apparently, she  _ wasn't  _ asleep.

"NO! You really don't ha—"

"Too late, already texted him."

"CLEM! NO!" Sophie screeched, hitting the bulge in Clementine's hoodie that she presumed was the girl's head, "Tell him it's a joke!"

"Hey, chill out! I haven't texted him,  _ I  _ joked. I can ask him for you though, it's no big deal."

"Actually, never mind. I don't think I wanna know what he's into," Sophie said, shaking her head, and suddenly her eyes widened. "Oh no… what if he's into being pegged? Or what if he likes to be peed on? Dude, no! I can't do this, I don't think I could handle him liking to be peed on," she said, her breathing becoming heavy. 

"Relax, Sophie! Mitch might be a hardass, but not  _ that  _ much of a hardass. It'll be fine," Louis said, soothing her by reaching his hand over his chair and allowing her to grab it. "Do as we practiced, long, deep breaths."

After some time, Sophie managed to calm herself down and went back to munching on her Takis. Fifteen minutes passed in silence, and then the silence was broken by a sound coming from inside Clementine's hoodie tent. The noise of the brunette making a call pierced the noiseless air and it was immediately answered. 

"Yo, Clem. What's up?" Mitch's voice came from the other side of the line. 

Sophie immediately threw her Takis to the side and started hitting Clementine as hard as her weak arms allowed, whispering 'fuck you, hang up on him!' to her countless of times.

"Not much!" Clementine answered, ignoring the dollar-store version of Chewbacca harassing her from outside her tent. "Just wondering, what are some of your kinks?" 

"I enjoy being pissed on."

Clementine immediately ended the call, snorting loudly. The car remained dead-silent for five seconds and then Clementine burst out laughing. "DUDE, NO WAY!" she howled, "I can't!"

She cried of laughter as she zipped down her hoodie and started wiping the tears from her eyes. Sophie sat back in her seat, mindlessly staring in front of her and grabbed her Takis. She put a few in her mouth, but she kept staring right ahead. Clementine continued laughing louder than she ever had. 

"Uh… Do you think she's okay?" Louis asked as he looked at the distraught redhead in his rearview mirror. 

Clementine shrugged, exhaling her last laugh and grabbing her sports bottle filled with water, taking a sip. "She'll be fine, she's all over Mitch. I doubt this'll make her think any different of him."

The car remained silent after that, apart from the scrunching of Sophie's bag of Takis and Clementine complaining every now and then that the drive was taking too long and that she wants her baby girl.' Eventually, Louis ended up shushing her and the drive continued in silence. 

***

"Voila, casa alla Violeta!" Louis exclaimed as they parked in front of Violet's trailer. 

"You just mixed French, Italian  _ and  _ Spanish in one sentence, and the sentence was only four words. Sometimes I really question your intellect," Clementine sighed as she stepped outside the car, Louis following suit. Sophie stayed in the car, who was now downing her third bag of Takis and still mindlessly staring in front of her.  _ She'll be fine, though,  _ Clementine mused, _ ...eventually.  _

"Hey! You can say what you want, but I'm the one that managed to speak all those languages at once, I don't think that's you, was it?" Louis retorted, shoving Clementine's back, leading to her stumbling forward.

"Ik ga je moeder neuken als je je bek niet houdt," Clementine said, glaring at him. 

"I'm sorry, what?" Louis asked, "Since when do you speak German?"

"It's actually Dutch, dreadhead. I have an aunt that lived in the Netherlands for twenty years and she taught me some of the…  _ essentials _ ," Clementine shrugged.

"And what did that mean?" Louis asked as he walked up the steps leading towards the front door.

"I called your mother a lovely individual that I aspire to be like her one day."

Before Louis could retaliate, the front door swung open and they were met by the sight of a very tall, blond man standing in the door opening. "Hey there!" he said with a bright smile, "What can I help you with?"

"We're friends of Violet's and we just came to see her and maybe ask if she wants to spend a few days with us," Louis told him, holding out his hand for the man to shake. The boy had immediately recognized him as Violet's dad, but was most surprised by the fact that he wasn't acting as an insufferable asshole this time. Violet's dad had recognized him too, though.

Violet's dad narrowed his eyes at the two kids in front of him. "She never mentioned that she was expecting friends. I'm just gonna have a…  _ quick chat _ with her," he said, slamming the door shut instantly after. 

_ Okay, that's odd _ , Clementine thought,  _ I thought it'd be some abusive druggie, but he doesn't seem that bad _ . She shrugged and sat down on the floor crossed-legged and took out her phone and opened Piano Tiles and started playing it. 

"You seriously play that stupid game?" Louis asked as he sat down next to her. "That's like, so 2015."

"It's for my fingers! I can't allow them to get stiff during this break, idiot," Clementine defended herself, rolling her eyes. 

"You realize I bought a grand piano, right?" 

Clementine's eyes widened and she clapped her hands enthusiastically. "Really? That's so cool! Yes! This is why you're my best friend," she said happily, hugging him, "Love you!"

"Hey hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves here," Louis said, "The only reason I bought it was because you threw a temper tantrum in front of my entire family during Christmas dinner last year when you learned I didn't have a p—"

"Blah blah, I can't hear you!" Clementine yelled, putting her fingers in her ears. Louis immediately jumped her and started a small brawl with her, prying her fingers from her ear. 

"—When you learned that I didn't own a piano!" he yelled over her screeching. 

"BLAH BLAH, I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!"

"WHEN YOU LEARNED THAT I DIDN'T OWN A PIA—"

"Am I interrupting something?" 

Louis and Clementine looked up like two deer caught in the headlights and looked up at Violet's dad, who had Violet standing by his side. They both stood up and dusted off their clothes. "No, we're good," Louis smiled, elbowing Clementine roughly in her side. She instantly responded by kicking his chin. 

Then Clementine looked up and she spotted Violet and she forgot about having to taunt Louis and walked over to her and hugged her tightly. "Hey Vi Vi, missed you!" she said, burying her face in Violet's neck. 

"I… missed you, too?" Violet said in a questioning manner. "What the hell are you two doing here?" she nervously added when Clementine had finally let go of her. 

"We came to say hi, and also to ask if you want to spend the rest of the break with us," Clementine said, "But, since I am ridiculously awesome, your answer will obviously be yes, so it's up to your dad to decide if that's okay with him, too. So, Mr...—"

"You can call me Ethan," he said through gritted teeth. 

"—Ethan! So, Ethan. Can Violet spend the rest of the break with us?"

"Well, it's really up to Violet over here! She gets to decide if she wants to spend the holiday with us, her loving daddy and her amazing family, or friends that she's known for maybe a few months at most. It's really up to you, isn't it, my dear?" he smiled, digging his nails into Violet's back harshly in a way that remained invisible to Louis and Clementine. 

Violet tried to ignore the pain shooting through her back and gritted her teeth for a second, uncomfortably fidgeting her fingers and nervously looking back up. "I… I wanna be with my daddy," she mumbled. 

"I know, baby girl…" Clementine sighed, "That's why I came to get you." 

The brunette walked over and took her girlfriend's hand, hugging her tightly afterwards. Louis put his hands in front of his face to stifle the huge snort that had come out when he noticed Violet's dad glaring daggers at him. Before Ethan could retaliate, the girl around a foot shorter than him, dragged his daughter from his grip and outside towards the car. Louis tipped his nonexistent fedora to Ethan, muttering the words 'Was nice meeting you, m'lady' to him before scooping up Rosie and Violet's cane and then also making his way outside, slamming the front door shut behind him. He picked up the pace and ran towards the car, getting behind the wheel and immediately turning on the engine and driving away, ignoring Ethan's furious calls from behind him.  _ I knew something was iffy. That guy gave me the creeps _ , Louis thought as he looked at the furious man in his rearview mirror, who was now wielding a baseball bat,  _ Jesus, I think it's good we stole her away like we did.  _ It stayed silent in the car for quite some time. 

"You guys shouldn't have done that…" Violet said breathlessly as they made their way onto the highway, "He's gonna be so mad the next time he sees me…"

"Why?" Clementine asked, nuzzling her face into the back of Violet's neck. "He told you to choose and you did!"

"I said I wanted to stay with him..." Violet mumbled. 

"No, you said you wanted to be with your daddy," Clementine corrected, "And that would be me."

"I cannot believe you sometimes…" the blonde muttered, feeling around her and then gripping the passenger seat. She climbed towards the back and sat down next to Sophie and crossed her arms. "I hate you right now, Clem."

"But you love me, right? I love youuu," Clementine cooed, placing her hand on Violet's knee, who just huffed and turned her head away from the brunette. "Violet, please? You love me, right? Please tell me you love me, or else I'm gonna throw a temper tantrum."

"I'd kinda like to hear that," Violet mumbled. 

"Baby girl, please. I'm actually gonna cry," Clementine said through gritted teeth, tears brimming her eyes. 

"Clem, you  _ never  _ cry," the blonde retorted. 

"Violet, she's deadass about to cry, for God's sake!" Louis yelled.

"Seriously?" Violet asked, "No, don't cry! I love you, Clemmy. I was just giving you a hard time because I was mad but I'm not anymore! I don't want you to be sad! Com—"

Before Violet was able to finish her sentence, Clementine climbed into the back and hugged her tightly, snuggling into her and crying onto her shoulder. Violet listened to the sound in awe. "Babe, what's wrong?" she asked, "Louis, I swear to God. I might be blind but I'll fucking John Cena your ass if you did something to her."

"I didn't do anything! She's just emotional today, or something!"

"Clem doesn't randomly get emotional!" Violet said, "Clem, what's wrong?"

"Mhm… nothing anymore," the brunette said as she snuggled into Violet's side more, her tears seemingly having dried. 

"Dude, this chick confuses the absolute shit out of me, and I have a cousin that body slammed her teddy bear into our glass coffee table and had to get twenty seven stitches," Louis said, shaking his head. 

"What?" Violet asked confusedly, "Actually, never mind. I don't think I wanna know." She shook her head and kissed the top of Clementine's head, who hummed in approval. It stayed silent for a few minutes. 

"So…" Violet said, "What now…?"

"I have a big ass hoodie," Clementine said, "I can use it to cover you up and I can licky licky your kitty kit—"

"Okay, I regret asking," Violet sighed. "Why are you such a nymphomaniac?"

"What? It's not like Sophie or Louis is gonna see," Clementine mumbled disappointedly. 

"Sophie is here?"

"Yup, but she's been spaced out for about an hour now," the musician said as she poked Sophie's side, who remained unresponsive. 

Violet shook her head quickly in confusion. "What, why?"

"Well, we found out that Mitch enjoys being pissed on."

Violet stayed silent for a second. "Excuse me?"

"Yup," Clementine shrugged, "I mean, it's kinda my fault that we did, but I'm not about to admit that to her. Besides,  _ we've _ done shit a lot kinkier th—"

"I've heard enough!" Louis said, cutting Clementine off, "You can stop there, thank you." 

"Shut up! You're the one that asked me, a  _ girl _ , what size condoms you should buy! Like, how the fuck am I supposed to know?" the musician retorted, wrapping her arms around Violet's neck and kissing her temple, just because she felt like it.

Violet let out a wholehearted laugh. "Louis, you didn't  _ actually  _ do that, right?"

"...no."

"Jesus Christ," Violet mumbled, turning her head towards Clementine, "How did you react?"

"I told him I could get on my knees and take a quick look f—"

"Again, I regret asking," Violet said disappointedly. 

"...if it means anything to you, I did end up buying the right size," Louis mumbled. 

"No, Louis. It  _ doesn't  _ mean anything to me," Violet told him, shaking her head, but failing to hide her grin, "Good for you, though."

The rest of the drive was fairly uneventful, the only thing really causing any uproar being Clementine trying to engage in make-out sessions with Violet. Maybe, just maybe, this 'corona-vacation' wasn't going to be as bad as it seemed at first. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos? :)


End file.
